Hank Greenberg Biography - Preferred Baseball To Schoolwork, First Jewish Baseball Star, Chronology, Highest-paid Player, Career Statistics - SELECTED WRITINGS BY GREENBERG:

1911-1986

American baseball player

The American baseball star Hank Greenberg, celebrated in the 1930s and 1940s for his powerful batting and multiple homeruns, was baseball's first legendary Jewish player. With the Detroit Tigers from 1933 to 1947, and with the Pittsburgh Pirates for the last year of his playing career, Greenberg led the American League four times in home runs. The peak year for the Depression Era player was 1938, when he hit fifty-eight home runs—only two fewer than record-breaking slugger Babe Ruth. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound player held a career batting average of .313, and won his league's Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 1935 and 1940. While he encountered anti-Semitism throughout his career, Greenberg won over many fans and was particularly beloved among Jewish baseball aficionados.

SELECTED WRITINGS BY GREENBERG:

(With Ira Berkow) Hank Greenberg: The Story of My Life, Triumph Books, 2001.