Hank Greenberg

Baseball Player

• Born: January 1, 1911
• Birthplace: New York, New York
• Died: September 4, 1986
• Place of death: Beverly Hills, California

Sport: Baseball

Early Life

Hank Greenberg was born on January 1, 1911, in New York City. He was one of four children of David Greenberg, a businessman, and Sarah Schwartz Greenberg. Both of Hank’s parents were Romanian immigrants. Until Hank was about six, the Greenbergs lived in the low-rent tenement houses of lower Manhattan in New York City. The neighborhood streets were tough, and it was then normal for Jewish children, like Hank, to be chased and beaten up by other youths from the same neighborhood. By the time he reached age seven, his family could afford to move uptown to the middle-class, largely Jewish neighborhood of Crotona Park in the Bronx.

The Road to Excellence

Although he was away from the poor neighborhood of his early years, things never came easily for Hank. His adolescent years were marred by a bad case of acne and by unusually rapid growth, in which he reached 6 feet 3 inches—only 1 inch short of his adult height—by the time he was thirteen. Hank found refuge from his shyness and the teasing of other boys in reading and in sports. Hank was not a natural athlete. He was awkward and slow and had poor reflexes, but his competitiveness led him to work at anything he tried until he became competent. At James Monroe High School in the Bronx, he played on the soccer, track (he was a shotputter), football, basketball, and baseball teams. Hank’s two best sports were basketball and baseball. Although he won a scholarship to play basketball for New York University, Hank decided to enter professional baseball when the Detroit Tigers offered him a contract in September, 1929.

The Emerging Champion

Hank began his professional career in Class A but soon was sent down to Raleigh in the lower minors. Hank did well at Raleigh. Although he got into one game with the Tigers in September, 1930, he needed two more years of minor-league ball before he was brought up to the Tigers to stay in the 1933 season. By August, he had taken over first base for the team.

Hank quickly achieved stardom, hitting both for average and for power. Hank regarded 1937 as his best season: he led the American League (AL) with 183 RBI, the statistic he felt was the best measurement of a player’s contribution to his team. To many fans, however, his most memorable season came the following year when he challenged Babe Ruth’s record of 60 home runs in one year. Hank fell just short with 58.

Hank worked hard to become a star and to remain one. In the off-season, he played squash and racquetball to stay in shape and to improve his foot speed and coordination. In spring training and during the season, he practiced in the field and in the batting cage. Hank faced a burden that practice could not overcome. In a day when taunting of players by fans and by other players—called bench-jockeying—was commonplace, Hank heard some of the cruelest remarks of anyone. As the greatest Jewish athlete of his time, a role model for many Jewish youngsters, Hank drew the taunts of anti-Semites and of others who thoughtlessly needled him. The taunting could have ruined a lesser man, but Hank handled the situation well. He even believed the cruel remarks of prejudiced fans and players helped make him a better player because he resolved to respond with deeds rather than words.

Despite the fact that he was the AL’s top first baseman by the end of the 1930’s, Hank was asked by his manager to move to left field in 1940, to make room at first for a young slugger who could play no other position. Hank worked just as hard to become a competent outfielder as he had worked earlier to develop his skills. His performance at bat and in the field won him recognition as the AL’s most valuable player, the second time he won this award.

Continuing the Story

Hank had barely become adjusted to the outfield when he faced the much more important challenge of serving his country in World War II. Although the United States had not yet entered the war in 1940, the country had begun to prepare militarily by instituting a draft of men for military service. At first classified as ineligible for military duty because of his flat feet, Hank was subjected to criticism from the press, which wondered how an athlete in his prime years could be physically unfit for the military. To stop the criticism and to show his willingness to serve, Hank asked to be reexamined and was found fit. Hank had played less than a month of the 1941 season when he was called for army training, the first star athlete to be drafted.

Because he was more than thirty, Hank was discharged after six months of duty, but after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hank enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He went to Officer’s Candidate School and was commissioned a second lieutenant, and, in 1943, he was sent overseas at his own request. He wanted to serve in a combat area and was sent to India and then to China, where American bases were under attack by the Japanese. Hank was discharged in July, 1945, after he had served nearly five years. He worked hard to get into athletic condition and was back in the outfield in time to help lead the Tigers into the 1945 World Series, his fourth.

After the season, Hank married Carol Gimbel, from a wealthy New York family. The couple had three children but were divorced after a dozen years of marriage. Hank gained custody of the children, and after they were all grown or about to finish school, Hank married again, to Mary Jo DeCicco, a former actress. The 1946 season, in which Hank returned to first base, was Hank’s last with the Tigers. After an off-season dispute with management over salary and other matters, Hank was sold to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He finished his career with the Pirates in 1947.

During his years as a high-salaried star, Hank had saved several hundred thousand dollars, and with it he stayed in baseball after his retirement by purchasing part ownership of the Cleveland Indians and then the Chicago White Sox. He directed the Indians’ farm system and served both the Indians and later the White Sox as general manager. Hank’s record was almost as good off the field as it had been while he was playing; while he was an Indians and White Sox executive, his teams won pennants and contended for others. Hank was proud of his ability to see things from the players’ viewpoint and took satisfaction in his important role in helping to set up baseball’s pension system for players. After he quit the White Sox in the early 1960’s, Hank left baseball to begin a successful new career investing in the stock market.

A severe wrist injury and nearly five years of military duty deprived Hank of almost six years of baseball at an age when he should have been at or near his peak. Had he played these additional years, statistical projections show that he might have concluded his career with more than 600 home runs and more than 2,000 RBI. Nevertheless, Hank’s baseball career was a great one. He worked hard for his success and deserved it. He was a team player, a man who helped lead the Tigers into four World Series. He died in 1986.

Summary

Hank Greenberg played fewer than ten full seasons in the major leagues. During his early years with the Tigers, his achievements were measured against those of Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx, two slugging stars then still active at first base. Some experts say Hank was only the third best, but a comparison of the three players’ top seasons indicates there was little difference between their accomplishments. When Hank was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1956, there was no doubt that he belonged among baseball’s immortals.

Bibliography

Greenberg, Hank, and Ira Berkow. Hank Greenberg: The Story of My Life. Chicago: Triumph Books, 2001.

James, Bill. The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. New York: Free Press, 2003.

Leonard, David J. “To Play or Pray? Shawn Green and His Choice over Atonement.” Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 25, no. 4 (Summer, 2007): 150-167.

Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 2006. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2006.

Shatzkin, Mike, Stephen Holtje, and Jane Charlton, eds. The Ballplayers: Baseball’s Ultimate Biographical Reference. New York: Ideal Logic Press, 1999.