looking back

From the DJN
Davidson
Digital Archive

Hank Greenberg started playing ball for the Detroit Tigers
in 1930, when he was just 19. He played one game that
year, but came back in 1933. The first baseman was one
of the few Jewish professional athletes in that era. In
September 1934, Greenberg played during the season

playoffs that fell on Rosh Hashanah; but 10 days later,
he declined to play on Yom Kippur, attending services
instead at Congregation Shaarey Zedek. Greenberg, who
led the American League in home runs five times and in
runs batted in four times, left the Tigers in 1946.•

G

oing back 75 years this week, I
found the opinion page of the
May 29, 1942, issue of the JN to
be particularly interesting. First, there
was a really thoughtful
lead editorial: “Youth
in Front Ranks.” The
inspiration for the
editorial was the fact
that, during a record-
setting Allied Jewish
Campaign, the Junior
Division was the first
Mike Smith
“to go over the top.”
Detroit Jewish News
Young
Jews had led
Foundation Archivist
the way and were the
first to meet their
quota.
More important, however, was the
salient point made about youth that
year: They were the group most directly
affected by the war as many young
Jewish men and women were in the
military services. This meant that here
there were fewer young Jews in the local
workforce, with fewer dollars to contrib-
ute to the cause. Nevertheless, young
Jews in Detroit rose to the occasion and
this was indeed a “cheering factor.”
There was also a piece on the “Revolt
of the Oppressed,” which focused on
resistance to Nazis in the European
nations they overran. It included a poi-
gnant quote from Danish King Christian
that, if the anti-Jewish Nuremberg laws
are forced on Denmark, “then we must
all wear the yellow star.”
And, just to remind everyone about
the war, on another page of the JN,
there was an advertisement from
Cunningham’s Drug Stores, which urged
the reader to keep our servicemen “smil-
ing with a carton of cigarettes.” The ad
claimed that “our boys were calling for”
smokes and Cunningham’s would mail
them anywhere for no extra charge! I
don’t think we’d see such an advertise-
ment in 2017. •

Want to learn more?
Go to the DJN Foundation archives,
available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.

146

May 25 • 2017

jn

Irwin Cohen, a local historian and former Detroit Tigers staff member, snapped this picture of
Hank Greenberg on the field between games of a Sunday doubleheader in June 1983, when the
Tigers retired his uniform. Courtesy of Irwin Cohen

Historic photos are curated by the
Jewish Historical Society of Michigan.