Greenberg, "Hank" (Henry B.)
Baseball
b. Jan. 1, 1911, New York, NY
d. Sept. 4, 1986
A right-handed first baseman, Greenberg put up some amazing RBI figures during his career and once challenged Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a season.
The 6-foot-3 1/2, 210-pound Greenberg starred in basketball as well as baseball in high school, then signed a contract with the Detroit Tigers that allowed him to enter New York University in 1929. However, he left school in the spring of 1930 to pursue his baseball career.
Greenberg had just one at-bat with the Tigers that year and didn't rejoin the team until 1933, when he became a starter. He led the AL in doubles with 63 in 1934, when he hit .339 with 26 home runs and 139 RBI to help lead the Tigers into the World Series. Despite Greenberg's .321 average and 7 RBI, Detroit lost to the St. Louis Cardinals.
He was named the league's most valuable player in 1935. He hit .328 that season and led the league with 36 home runs and 170 RBI. The Tigers won the World Series, but Greenberg suffered a broken wrist in the second game.
The wrist was broken again early in the 1936 season and Greenberg appeared in only 12 games. However, he came back with 40 home runs and 183 RBI, one short of Lou Gehrig's AL record, in 1937 and the following year he hit 58 home runs to tie Jimmy Foxx's record for a right-handed hitter.
After slipping to 33 home runs and 112 RBI in 1939, Greenberg was moved to the outfield to make room for Rudy York at first base. He responded by leading the league in doubles with 50, home runs with 41, RBI with 150, and slugging percentage with a .670 mark to win his second most valuable player award.
Drafted early in 1941, Greenberg became a captain in the Army Air Corps and took part in the first bombing raids on Tokyo in 1944. He rejoined the Tigers during the 1945 season and hit a ninth-inning grand-slam home run in the last game of the season to win another pennant for the Tigers. They went on to beat the Chicago Cubs in a seven-game World Series in which Greenberg batted .304 with 2 home runs, 7 RBI, and 7 runs scored.
After leading the league in home runs and RBI again, with 44 and 127 in 1946, Greenberg was sold to the NL's Pittsburgh Pirates. He retired after slipping to .249, 25 home runs, and 74 RBI in one season there and became vice president and farm director for the Cleveland Indians. In 1959, he went to the Chicago White Sox as vice president, then retired to go into private business.