Hank Greenberg: Baseball's First Jewish Superstar

On October 2, 1938, which was the last day of the season, Baseball's first Jewish superstar Hank Greenberg had 58 home runs. Greenberg was a big man standing 6 foot 4, 210 pounds which was very big at the time. He was two home runs short of tying the great Babe Ruth's single season home run record of 60. There was hope for Greenberg as he had hit two home runs eleven times in that season to remember.

Greenberg was the son of a Russian born immigrant. People thought it was strange for a Jewish man to play ball, so they flocked to the south to watch in curiosity as this man hit home run after home run in the minors, where he played for many small towns before he finally got his crack at the bigs in 1933. He received a bit of criticism from his Jewish peers because one of the biggest games of the year, against the Red Sox, fell on Rosh Hashana. This was a tricky situation for the pious Jew, Greenberg. To combat this situation he attended services the evening of the holiday. Rosh- Hashana occurs at sundown, luckily for Greenberg Major League Baseball did not play night games at this time. He then decided to play the next day, hitting two home runs against the rival.

Greenberg was a magnificent baseball player, perhaps one of the most overlooked in history. In 1934 his Tigers won the pennant, then they did it again in 1935, he picked up the MVP award with an unanimous decision while driving in 170 runs. He established himself as one of the great RBI men of that generation. He ended with a total of 1,276 RBI's which is 107th best in history.

Going into that game in 1938 Greenberg was to face a nineteen year old, flame thrower Bob Feller, who is now in the hall of fame. Greenberg did not make history that day as he went four for eight, hitting nothing more ten a double; However history was in the air that day as Bob Feller set a then-record 18 strikeouts, which today has been surpassed, although none by a teenager.