High and Tight: Hank Greenberg Confronts Anti-Semitism in Baseball

High and Tight: Hank Greenberg Confronts Anti-Semitism in Baseball PDF Author: Ray Robinson
Publisher: Now and Then Reader LLC
ISBN: 193785308X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 31

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Book Description
In the 1930s Hank Greenberg of the Detroit Tigers became the most feared slugger in baseball, the only player to challenge Babe Ruth’s record of sixty home runs in a single season before Roger Maris broke the record in 1961. And Greenberg was Jewish, certainly the greatest Jewish ballplayer to that time, which made him a special hero to American Jews. Throughout his career Greenberg displayed, in addition to his hitting prowess, an unusual degree of gentlemanliness that won him the admiration and respect of his fellow ballplayers, executives of the game, sportswriters, and fans. Hank Greenberg was seventy-five when he died in 1986. On the hundredth anniversary of his birth (he was born January 1, 1912), Ray Robinson remembers the man, the player, and the prejudice he overcame.

High and Tight: Hank Greenberg Confronts Anti-Semitism in Baseball

High and Tight: Hank Greenberg Confronts Anti-Semitism in Baseball PDF Author: Ray Robinson
Publisher: Now and Then Reader LLC
ISBN: 193785308X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 31

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Book Description
In the 1930s Hank Greenberg of the Detroit Tigers became the most feared slugger in baseball, the only player to challenge Babe Ruth’s record of sixty home runs in a single season before Roger Maris broke the record in 1961. And Greenberg was Jewish, certainly the greatest Jewish ballplayer to that time, which made him a special hero to American Jews. Throughout his career Greenberg displayed, in addition to his hitting prowess, an unusual degree of gentlemanliness that won him the admiration and respect of his fellow ballplayers, executives of the game, sportswriters, and fans. Hank Greenberg was seventy-five when he died in 1986. On the hundredth anniversary of his birth (he was born January 1, 1912), Ray Robinson remembers the man, the player, and the prejudice he overcame.

Hank Greenberg in 1938

Hank Greenberg in 1938 PDF Author: Ron Kaplan
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 161321992X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
“Hammerin’” Hank Greenberg was coming off a stellar season where he’d hit 40 home runs and 184 RBIs, becoming only the thirteenth player to ever hit 40 or more homers (and one of only four players to have 40 or more home runs and 175 or more RBIs in a season). Even with his success at the plate, neither Greenberg nor the rest of the world could have expected what was about to happen in 1938. From his first day in the big leagues, the New York-born Greenberg had dealt with persecution for being Jewish. From teammate Jo-Jo White asking where his horns were to the verbal abuse from bigoted fans and the media, the 6-foot-3 slugger always did his best to shut the noise out and concentrate on baseball. But in 1938, that would be more difficult then he could have ever imagined. While Greenberg was battling at the plate, his people overseas were dealing with a completely different battle. Adolf Hitler, who had been chancellor of Germany since 1933, had taken direct control of the country’s military in February of ’38. He then began his methodic takeover of all neighboring countries, spreading Nazism and the early stages of World War II and the Holocaust. Hank Greenberg in 1938 chronicles the events of 1938, both on the baseball diamond and the streets of Europe. As Greenberg’s bat had him on course for Babe Ruth’s home run record, Hitler’s “Final Solution” was beginning to take shape. Jews across the US, worried about the issues overseas, looked to Greenberg as a symbol of hope. Though normally hesitant to speak about the anti-Semitism he dealt with, the slugger still knew the role he was playing for so many of his people, saying “I came to feel that if I, as a Jew, hit a home run, I was hitting one against Hitler.”

Hank Greenberg

Hank Greenberg PDF Author: Mark Kurlansky
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300175140
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
Profiles the Jewish-American baseball player who, in 1934, risked his chance to beat Babe Ruth's home run record by sitting out a game on Yom Kippur, and describes his impact on Jewish-American history.

Hank Greenberg

Hank Greenberg PDF Author: John Rosengren
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0451416023
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
Baseball during the Great Depression of the 1930s galvanized communities and provided a struggling country with heroes. Jewish player Hank Greenberg gave the people of Detroit—and America—a reason to be proud. But America was facing more than economic hardship. Hitler’s agenda heightened the persecution of Jews abroad while anti-Semitism intensified political and social tensions in the U.S. The six-foot-four-inch Greenberg, the nation’s most prominent Jew, became not only an iconic ball player, but also an important and sometimes controversial symbol of Jewish identity and the American immigrant experience. Throughout his twelve-year baseball career and four years of military service, he heard cheers wherever he went along with anti-Semitic taunts. The abuse drove him to legendary feats that put him in the company of the greatest sluggers of the day, including Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, and Lou Gehrig. Hank’s iconic status made his personal dilemmas with religion versus team and ambition versus duty national debates. Hank Greenberg is an intimate account of his life—a story of integrity and triumph over adversity and a portrait of one of the greatest baseball players and most important Jews of the twentieth century. INCLUDES PHOTOS

Two Pioneers

Two Pioneers PDF Author: Robert C. Cottrell
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
ISBN: 1597978434
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
As the first great Jewish player in the major leagues and the first African American to play major-league baseball during the twentieth century, respectively, Hank Greenberg and Jackie Robinson are forever linked because of the barriers they encountered, the discrimination they endured, the athletic gifts they exhibited, and especially the courage and dignity they displayed. Both suffered ridicule and abuse as they participated in the national pastime. Nevertheless, each excelled. Greenberg became one of the preeminent sluggers of the 1930s and 1940s who took a break from baseball to serve in the war. Robinson, from the mid-1940s into the following decade, helped bring back speed and a thinking man’s approach to the game, both of which had largely been discarded for a generation. Two Pioneers presents these remarkable players’ experiences while competing in a nation that was deeply divided on social issues such as anti-Semitism and racism. Both men earned nearly as much attention off the field as they did on it. Greenberg called into question the idea of a "master race” as Adolf Hitler rose to power and gained supporters all over the world. Likewise, Robinson contested racial notions regarding the supposed inferiority of people of African ancestry, even though segregationists proved determined to maintain social barriers separating blacks and whites. It is only fitting that when Robinson finally crossed baseball’s color line, Greenberg was one of the first players to welcome him publicly. Robert Cottrell’s well-researched work shows how two baseball superstars became important figures in the civil rights crusade to ensure that all Americans, no matter their religion or race, are given equal opportunity.

Hank Greenberg: The Story of My Life

Hank Greenberg: The Story of My Life PDF Author: Hank Greenberg
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee
ISBN: 1461662389
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
Once in a great while there appears a baseball player who transcends the game and earns universal admiration from his fellow players, from fans, and from the American people. Such a man was Hank Greenberg, whose dynamic life and legendary career are among baseball's most inspiring stories. The Story of My Life tells the story of this extraordinary man in his own words, describing his childhood as the son of Eastern European immigrants in New York; his spectacular baseball career as one of the greatest home-run hitters of all time and later as a manager and owner; his heroic service in World War II; and his courageous struggle with cancer. Tall, handsome, and uncommonly good-natured, Greenberg was a secular Jew who, during a time of widespread religious bigotry in America, stood up for his beliefs. Throughout a lifetime of anti-Semitic abuse he maintained his dignity, becoming in the process a hero for Jews throughout America and the first Jewish ballplayer elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Hammerin' Hank

Hammerin' Hank PDF Author: Yona Zeldis McDonough
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0802789978
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Refusing to accept the prejudice attitudes of the time, Henry Benjamin Greenberg pursued his dream of becoming a baseball player in the 1930s--ending up being one of the sports' most celebrated figures and baseball's first Jewish superstar.

Hank Greenberg

Hank Greenberg PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Presents a biographical sketch of American baseball player Henry Benjamin (Hank) Greenberg (1911-1986), provided by the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) as part of the Jewish Student Online Research Center (JSOURCE). Notes that Greenberg was the first Jewish baseball star, as well as the first Jewish owner/manager in baseball.

Hank Greenberg

Hank Greenberg PDF Author: Ira Berkow
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780827606852
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
New York Times writer Ira Berkow presents a compelling account of the life and career of Hank Greenberg, the first Jewish ballplayer to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. (Ages 10 and up)

Hammerin' Hank Greenberg

Hammerin' Hank Greenberg PDF Author: Shelley Sommer
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781629790510
Category : Baseball players
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The first Jewish baseball hall-of-famer, Hank Greenberg battled anti-Semitism on and off the field. He was raised in New York City, the son of Romanian-Jewish immigrants, and went on to become a baseball legend. This thought-provoking biography follows him from his service during World War II, through his long career with the Detroit Tigers--where the moniker Hammerin' Hank came to life--and finally to his role as a baseball executive. Readers will experience the prejudice Greenberg endured, even as he made his way into the annals of baseball history: two-time American League MVP, 331 home runs, and first Jewish baseball player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Archival photos add to the appeal of this Sydney Taylor Honor Book.