Baseball History Comes Alive Now Ranked #2 by Feedspot Among All Internet Baseball History Websites and Blogs!
Guest Submissions from Our Readers Always Welcome!
Scroll Down to Read Today’s Essay
Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive for automatic updates.
As a Free Bonus, you’ll get access to my Special Report: Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide!
Hank Greenberg Photo Gallery
Let’s Recall Hank Greenberg’s Incredible 1937 Season!
“Home run hitters drive Cadillacs; singles hitters drive Fords.” -Hank Greenberg
By this definition of a home run slugger, we can be sure Hank Greenberg was driving a Cadillac!
Hank Greenberg’s incredible 1937 season ended 87 years ago this past week (October 3, 1937), on a rather high note. In a game played at Navin Filed, the Tigers beat the Indians 1-0 as Hank drove in the game’s only run. In doing so, he spoiled the bid by Cleveland’s Johnny Allen for a perfect season. Due to Greenberg’s clutch RBI, Allen finished the season 15-1, with his .938 won-loss percentage the best in the major leagues.
That would have been a nice way to end the season, but Hank’s RBI had even greater significance. This last RBI was his 183rd of the season for the 26-year-old first baseman, leaving him just one shy of Lou Gehrig’s 1931 American League record of 184.
And what a year 1937 was for Greenberg! The New York City native had many great seasons, but 1937 may arguably have been his best (with 1938 being a very close second). In addition to the near record-breaking 183 RBIs, he hit .337, along with 40 home runs, 49 doubles, 14 triples, 137 runs, a .436 on-base percentage, a “Ruthian” .668 slugging average, and an OPS+ mark of 171. It would be hard to equal or top a season like that, but he followed up in 1938 by hitting .315, with an American League record-setting 58 home runs, 147 RBIs, 143 runs, a .438 on-base percentage, .683 slugging percentage, and a 169 OPS+ mark. You can make the final call as to which season was the best. Regardless, these were two remarkable back-to-back years, one of the best two-year offensive outputs in the history of the game.
Hank’s Great Career
All this gives me the chance to say a few words about Hank Greenberg’s great career. The 6’3”, 210-pound Greenberg was one of the premier power hitters of his generation and is widely considered as one of the best hitters ever. He played 13 seasons in the major leagues (1930-’47), with three seasons lost to military service. Known for his success with the Tigers (1930, 1933-’41, 1945-’46), he also played for the Pirates (1947). That year he was one of the few opposing players to welcome Jackie Robinson to the major leagues.
Over his career, the five-time All-Star hit .313, with 337 home runs, 1276 RBIs, .412 on-base percentage, .605 slugging average, and 158 OPS+ (100 being the major league average), hitting over .300 eight times.
Hank was a two-time American League MVP (the first player to win the award in two different positions), a four-time home run leader, a four-time RBI leader, and a member of four Tiger pennant winners and two World Series championships. Greenberg was the first major league player to hit 25 or more home runs in a season in each league. His Number 5 has been retired by the Tigers and he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1956.
Check out the beautiful Hank Greenberg colorization by our resident baseball artist, Don Stokes. We know Don does extensive research for his work, so we can always be sure of the accuracy of the colors. Check out the patch on Hank’s sleeve. That’s the Baseball Centennial patch, commemorating baseball’s 100th anniversary (1839-1939). That tells us the photo is from the 1939 season.
Hank “Banished” From the Tigers After the 1946 Season
It turns out that back in 1947, the future Hall-of-Famer, who just happened to be the 1946 American League home run leader with 44, was banished from the Tigers and basically given away to the Pirates for the paltry sum of $35,000. He had returned to the Tigers after three seasons lost to military service and was now aged 35. Word soon got out that the Tigers’ “higher-ups” had wanted Greenberg gone, and so they were more than willing to send him packing while receiving very little in return.
After years of superstar production in Detroit, and after all that he had meant to the city, I’m sure you must be wondering what in the world was Greenberg’s “crime” that warranted such a vindictive end to his tenure in Detroit. You might enjoy reading my essay from a couple years ago, that details what happened in the “falling out.” I think you’ll find it interesting. It’s titled: Hank Greenberg Sent Packing From Detroit…For Being Photographed Wearing a Yankee Jersey!
We’d love to hear what you think about this or any other related baseball history topic…please leave comments below.
Gary Livacari
Hank Greenberg quote from “Tribe Memories: The First Century” by Russell Schneider, Moonlight Publishing, 2000
Photo Credits: Featured photo colorized by Don Stokes; all others from Google search
Information: Excerpts edited from Hank Greenberg Wikipedia page; Stats from Baseball-Reference
Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive to receive email updates. FREE BONUS for subscribing: Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide. The site has over 1500 fully categorized baseball essays and photo galleries, now surpassing the one million hits mark with over 1,232,000 hits: https://wp.me/P7a04E-2he
(Please note: If you were previously a subscriber to the website, you may have to resubscribe due to recent technical issues. Just use the green “Follow Us” icon below to resubscribe).
https://www.facebook.com/Don-Stokes-Old-Time-Baseball-Colorizations-923346241033508
