1986 Sportflics Decade Greats Hank Greenberg

 

I was finally able to get all three photos to appear well in the GIF. Which is good because I couldn't find any of these online.

On-the-field trivia: The original "Hebrew Hammer", Greenberg hit 58 home runs in 1938, and may well have broken Babe Ruth's single season record if he hadn't been walked so much in September (20% of the time, far more than any other time in his career). There is speculation that many in the league didn't want a Jewish player to break Ruth's record, but Greenberg himself has said that was not the case. In the 1935 World Series, umpire George Moriarty ejected the Cubs bench for anti-Semitic tauts aimed at Greenberg. Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the famously racist baseball commissioner, disciplined Moariarty for this action. As impressive as his numbers are (.313 lifetime batting average, 331 HR, 1,274 RBI), they would have been far better had he not lost the prime of his career to World War Two. He missed most of 1941 and all of 1942-1944, serving 47 months total, the most of any baseball player. This included time overseas in the China-Burma-India Theater for the Army Air Forces in 1944. Greenberg ended his career in the National League in 1947 with the Pirates, and was one of the first opposing players to support Jackie Robinson. Robinson credited Greenberg with helping him get through his tough rookie year.

Off-the-field trivia: Greenberg married Caral Gimbel, granddaughter of department store founder Adam Gimbel. After his career Greenberg served as general manager and later part-owner for both the Indians and White Sox. While with the Indians he tried unsuccessfully to move the team to Minnesota.

My collection: I do not have any playing-days cards of Greenberg. Greenberg's last solo card as a contemporary player was in the 1948 R346 set.