HANK GREENBERG
First Baseman, 1930-1946
"Hammerin' Hank"
#5
--Class of 1950--
Bats - Right
Throws - Right
Born - 1/1/1911
Died - 9/4/1986
Biography:
Certainly one of the most feared sluggers of all time, "Hammerin'" Hank Greenberg flirted with many impressive offensive records during his dominating career with the Detroit Tigers. Not known as a natural athlete, Greenberg worked for those numbers. And at other times, he worked to be effective with the glove. The first prominent Jewish player in baseball, he held the hopes and dreams of a large group of people on his shoulders and did so in spectacular fashion. Coveted by the Yankees as well, this Bronx native said he saw Lou Gehrig playing first base while being recruited by his hometown team. Despite what was being said to him by the New York front office, he realized that he had no future there and signed with Detroit. In 1933 he had his first real action with his parent club, clouting 12 homers and compiling a .301 average. In 1934 he missed just one game during the Tigers’ AL pennant-winning season, batting .339 and smashing 26 homers and 63 doubles. Amid considerable controversy throughout Detroit, Greenberg decided to play on Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the Jewish season; however he later sat out on Yom Kippur. During the Rosh Hashanah game he hit two solo homers en route to a 2-1 victory. Greenberg's bat seemingly always created headlines. In 1938, he chased Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record, smashing 58 long-balls before season's end. A year earlier, he came within one RBI of the single-season record with 183. Hammerin' Hank was one of the first baseball players to leave the game due to military service, missing most or all of the regular season between 1941 and 1945. However, when he was granted leave during the Tigers' 1945 pennant run, Greenberg made the absolute most of it. Hank hit a home run during his first game back in 1945, and concluded that magical regular season with a game-winning, pennant-clinching grand-slam in the final game of the season against the St. Louis Browns. Greenberg was more than power, however. When asked to move to left field because Rudy York’s only possible defensive position was first base, Greenberg made the move in 1940 -- for an extra $10,000. He worked relentlessly to make himself an adequate left fielder, and went on to win the second MVP of his career -– the only player to win the award at two different positions. Greenberg also missed most of the 1936 season due to a wrist injury. And yet despite losing peak years to injury and the Second World War, this slugger still finished his Tiger career with 306 homers, a .319 batting average and a .616 slugging percentage. Inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1956 and the Michigan Hall of Fame in 1986, Greenberg was fifth on baseball’s all-time home run list (with 331 four-baggers) when he retired.
Hitting:
Code:
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS+ TB SH HBP
1930 19 DET AL 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0 0
1933 22 DET AL 117 449 59 135 33 3 12 87 6 2 46 78 .301 .367 .468 118 210 2 1
1934 23 DET AL 153 593 118 201 63 7 26 139 9 5 63 93 .339 .404 .600 156 356 9 2
1935 24 DET AL 152 619 121 203 46 16 36 170 4 3 87 91 .328 .411 .628 169 389 4 0
1936 25 DET AL 12 46 10 16 6 2 1 16 1 0 9 6 .348 .455 .630 165 29 0 0
1937 26 DET AL 154 594 137 200 49 14 40 183 8 3 102 101 .337 .436 .668 172 397 2 3
1938 27 DET AL 155 556 144 175 23 4 58 146 7 5 119 92 .315 .438 .683 170 380 3 3
1939 28 DET AL 138 500 112 156 42 7 33 112 8 3 91 95 .312 .420 .622 155 311 11 2
1940 29 DET AL 148 573 129 195 50 8 41 150 6 3 93 75 .340 .433 .670 170 384 3 1
1941 30 DET AL 19 67 12 18 5 1 2 12 1 0 16 12 .269 .410 .463 121 31 0 0
1945 34 DET AL 78 270 47 84 20 2 13 60 3 1 42 40 .311 .404 .544 167 147 0 0
1946 35 DET AL 142 523 91 145 29 5 44 127 5 1 80 88 .277 .373 .604 163 316 1 0
YR From To G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG SB CS OPS+
TOTALS 12 1930 1946 1269 4791 980 1528 366 69 306 1202 748 771 .319 .412 .616 58 26 161