The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg

[dookie joe]

Hank Greenberg fell out of love with the Tigers when they moved him to left field so that Rudy York could play first base. They finally had to give Greenberg a $10,000 bonus to agree to the move. In 1941, Greenberg was the first American League player to be drafted into the army. He came back in 1945 just in time to get the Tigers into the World Series with a few key home runs. The Tigers shipped Rudy York off to the Red Sox for shortstop Eddie Lake so that Greenberg could return to first base. After one year [[1946) the Tigers got tired of Greenberg and his salary and sold him to the Pittsburgh Pirates for $75,000. Greeberg played one year for the Pirates and didn't like having second billing to Ralph Kiner, so he retired after the 1947 season at age 36.

Where did you get your info? I'm curious because I have Greenberg's autobiography [[part of which was written posthumously), along with several other books with biographical info on Greenberg, and while some of the things you say have been documented, others I'm reading here for the first time.

For instance, I never heard the reason he quit Pittsburgh was because he didn't like playing second fiddle to Ralph Kiner. In fact, Kiner credits Hank with being a great mentor to him.

And part of the reason the Tigers traded him, according to Greenberg, was because Walter Briggs got mad after seeing Hank in a Yankee uniform. Salary may also have been part of it.

I'm not saying you're wrong; I have just never seen some of this stuff anywhere else, and I'm a baseball history nut, especially when it relates to the Tigers.

[unclefrank]

Where did you get your info? I'm curious because I have Greenberg's autobiography [[part of which was written posthumously), along with several other books with biographical info on Greenberg, and while some of the things you say have been documented, others I'm reading here for the first time.

For instance, I never heard the reason he quit Pittsburgh was because he didn't like playing second fiddle to Ralph Kiner. In fact, Kiner credits Hank with being a great mentor to him.

And part of the reason the Tigers traded him, according to Greenberg, was because Walter Briggs got mad after seeing Hank in a Yankee uniform. Salary may also have been part of it.

I'm not saying you're wrong; I have just never seen some of this stuff anywhere else, and I'm a baseball history nut, especially when it relates to the Tigers.

Just read his interview in "The Glory Of Their Times." He was just tired of being a player, and wanted to be an executive.