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Jewish Detroiters Recall
Hank Greenberg's Chase

RICHARD PEARL

Staff Writer

M

emories of 52 years
ago in Jewish
Detroit were stirred
this week as Cecil Fielder
battled to become the first
Tiger since the immortal
Hank Greenberg to hit 50
home runs in a season.
Back in late September of
1938, Hitler was making
noises in Europe, but the
question on millions of
Americans' minds wasn't
"What's Hitler going to do?"
but rather, "Can Greenberg
do it?" — break the great
Babe Ruth's record of 60
homers?
"Don't ask, don't ask,"
Greenberg told reporters
who crowded around him,
according to his
autobiography, The Story of
My Life. He'd already hit 58
and, with a week to go in the
season, was within striking
distance of the Sultan of
Swat's record.
"Sure, there was added
pressure being Jewish,"
wrote Greenberg, re-
membering being called an-
ti-Semitic names by oppos-
ing players and even the
fans. "Sometimes I wanted
to go up in the stands and
beat the ---- out of them.
"Being Jewish did carry
with it a special responsibili-
ty. After all, I was represent-
ing a couple of million Jews
among a hundred million
gentiles, and I was always in
the spotlight. I was big and I
wasn't the greatest player in
the world . . . I just had to
show them that a Jew could
play ball."
"We were so elated he was
one of us," recalled Bill
Hertz of Southfield this
week. "Every deli, every
synagogue — this was the

topic of conversation. On
every street corner in the
Jewish neighborhood, 12th
and Hastings, people were
talking" about the Tigers' 6-
foot-4 superstar first
baseman.
"I remember the late
Bucky Willis, a ballboy who
was Hank's gofer, from
schooldays," said Hertz. "He
shagged fly balls for Hank
when Hank went for extra
batting practice and Bucky'd
tell us about Hank. He
always said Hank was ge-
nerous to a fault" when it
came to tipping the ballboys
for clubhouse chores and
shagging flies.
As the days wore on, the
games became fewer and
Greenberg's chances to
break Ruth's record faded.
The scene was not unlike
what Fielder faced 'this
week, recalled another
Detroiter, Robert Steinberg.
Then only 7 or 8 years old,
Steinberg, now president of
Sinai Hospital, remembers
seeing "the family standing
around the radio, looking at
the little green dot" on the
dial and listening to the
Tiger broadcasts. "I re-
member my father and
grandfather screaming,
`They're not giving him
anything to hit!' — just like
what's happening to Cecil
Fielder.
"They wouldn't pitch to
him. Of course, there were
the old stories around — that
they didn't want to see a
Jewish man break Babe
Ruth's record. Jewish
ballplayers were not very
popular in those days, and
there were no black major
leaguers yet.
"All of us real baseball
fans, all of us wanted to be
Hank Greenberg. All the

Continued on Page 64