Hank Greenberg - Hank Greenberg: The Story of My Life

The Story of My Life

Edited and with an Introduction by Ira Berkow

THE STORY OF MY LIFE. Copyright 1989, 2001 by the Estate of Henry Greenberg. Introduction copyright 1989, 2001 by Ira Berkow. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form. For information, address: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 1332 North Halsted Street, Chicago 60642, a member of the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. Manufactured in the United States of America and printed on acid-free paper.

www.ivanrdee.com

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009934552

ISBN: 978-1-56663-837-1 (pbk : alk. paper)

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:

Associated Press: Excerpt from an article by Whitney Martin dated June 22, 1945. Reprinted with permission of the Associated Press.

Contemporary Books, Inc.: Speaking of Greenberg from Collected Verse by Edgar A. Guest. Copyright 1934 by Contemporary Books, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Contemporary Books, Inc.

The Detroit News: Excerpts from the Detroit News: article by Joe Falls, Copyright 1933; article by Harry Salsinger, Copyright 1934; article by Bud Shaver, Copyright 1934; letter by Lorna Dodd, Copyright 1986; two articles by Bud Shaver from the Detroit Times dated September 13, 1934, and March 15, 1935. Reprinted with permission of the Detroit News, a Gannett Newspaper.

Hearst Corporation: Excerpt from an article by Bill Slocum from the New York American, September 24, 1940. Copyright Hearst Corporation. Reprinted by permission of Hearst Corporation.

International Herald Tribune Corporation: Excerpt from article by Arthur E. Patterson from the New York Herald Tribune, February 28, 1941. Reprinted by permission of I.H.T. Corp.

New York News, Inc.: Excerpts from article by Jack Smith from the New York Daily News, 1938, and additional article dated February 19, 1946. Copyright 1938, 1946 by New York News, Inc. Reprinted with permission.

The New York Times Company: Excerpt from Trosky Is Future Gehrig of Loop. Copyright 1935 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission. All Rights Reserved.

The Sporting News: Excerpts from article by Fred Lieb, 1935, and Bob Considine, 1947. Reprinted by permission of The Sporting News.

Because Hank Greenberg died before he could finish this book, there were gaps in the manuscript that I attempted to fill.

Many people contributed to the completion of this book but none more than Mary Jo Greenberg, Hanks wife, and Hanks three children, Glenn Greenberg, Stephen Greenberg, and Alva Greenberg Gahagan.

Also providing indispensable assistance were Hanks sister and brothers, Lillian Golson and Ben and Joe Greenberg.

Other family members who were generous with their time and information were Marilyn Greenberg, Myrna Greenberg, and Donald Golson.

I also want to offer my appreciation to Caral Gimbel Lebworth for her contribution.

I want to thank Jon Segal and Ruth Fecych of Times Books for their care with this bookand with its editor.

I offer gratitude to Larry Klein for his characteristic diligence in researching newspaper and library files, and for his suggestions in regard to the manuscript.

I am appreciative of Arthur Pincus and Murray Olderman for their reading of the manuscript, and for their editorial insights into it.

Numerous others were helpful in a variety of ways, and I wish to thank:

Harold Allen, Joe Altobelli, Luke Appling, Elden Auker, Dick Bartell, Jim Benagh, Bob Berman, Stu Black, Phil Cavarretta, Ben Chapman, Herman Flea Clifton, Andy Cohen, Sid Cohen, Rocky Colavito, Jimmy Connors, Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio, Nate Dolin, Leo Durocher, Harry Eisenstat, Joe Falls, Bob Feller, Rick Ferrell, Anne Taylor Fleming, Karl Fleming, Charlie Gehringer, Harold Goldstein, Izzy Goldstein, Lefty Gomez, Mel Harder, Ray Hayworth, Billy Herman, Elon Chief Hogsett, Steve Jacobson, Billy Jurges, Dr. Rex Kennamer, Ralph Kiner, Sandy Koufax, Hal Lebovitz, Bob Lemon, Ed Levy, Al Lopez.

And Bill Madlock, Walter Matthau, Barney McCoskey, Don McNeely, Dutch Meyer, Morris Moorawnick, Dr. Norman Nemoy, Hal Newhouser, Richard M. Nixon, Mary Owen, Shirley Povich, Bobby Riggs, Billy Rogell, Charlie Rose, Al Rosen, Bill Rosen, Bus Saidt, Mrs. Heinie Schuble, Truett Rip Sewell, Eric Show, Sam Smith, George Tuck Stainback, Bob Steinberg, Billy Sullivan, George Birdie Tebbetts, Mary Frances Veeck, Charlie Wagner, and Ted Williams.

I also wish to thank Bill Dean, Bill Guilfoile, Tom Heitz, and Pat Kelly of the Baseball Hall of Fame; Don Ewald of the Detroit Tigers; Bob Rosen and Seymour Siwoff of the Elias Sports Bureau; and Steve Gietschier of The Sporting News.

Numerous books were also of significant help, including: 1947When All Hell Broke Loose in Baseball, by Red Barber (Doubleday, 1982); On Equal Terms, by Lucy S. Dawidowicz (Holt Rinehart & Winston, 1982); Baseball When the Grass Was Real, by Donald Honig (Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1975); The World of Our Fathers, by Irving Howe (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975); The Jewish Baseball Hall of Fame, by Erwin Lynn (Shapolsky Books, 1986); The Baseball Encyclopedia 7th ed., edited by Joseph L. Reichler (Macmillan, 1988); The Glory of Their Times, by Lawrence Ritter (Morrow, 1984); Baseballs Great Experiment, by Jules Tygiel (Oxford, 1983); and Baseball Goes to War, by William B. Mead (Farragut, 1985).

To a small boy, the name aloneHank Greenbergwas magical, larger than life, like that of some storybook character. And yet he was a historical figure who seemed rather out of date when I was growing up in Chicago in the late 1940s; his was a name more suited to a past time, a past America. The paradox, though, was that Greenbergs having been a baseball player gave him a contemporary status. After all, there is nothing more current than the records, anecdotes, and memories of yesterdays baseball heroes. Unless it is those of todays. It is a strange thing about baseball: The stories are handed down the way that Homers stories of legendary figures in battles with a one-eyed monster or a Trojan horse once were passed down.