Sports Shemitahs April, 2015

After the 1940 season, he was chosen as the catcher on The Sporting News’ All Star team

He entered the military after his final season of 1942

Harry Danning played 7 seasons with more than 100 at-bats/plate appearances

Hank Greenberg

• Hank Greenberg is considered the greatest Jewish superstar in any sport

• He was born on January 1, 1911, just after a Shemitah, and died on September 4, 1986, just before a Shemitah

Hank Greenberg

• In 1934, his second major-league season, he hit .339 and helped the Tigers reach their first World Series in 25 years. He led the American League with 63 doubles, and also hit 26 home runs

• Late in the 1934 season, he announced that he would not play on September 10, which was Rosh Hashanah, or Yom Teruah (the Day of Trumpets, also the secular Jewish New Year), or on September 19, the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.

Hank Greenberg

• The Detroit fans were upset, "Rosh Hashanah comes every year but the Tigers haven't won the pennant since 1909."

• Greenberg did considerable soul-searching, and discussed the matter with his rabbi; finally he relented and agreed to play on Rosh Hashanah, but stuck with his decision not to play on Yom Kippur.

• Dramatically, Greenberg hit two home runs in a 2–1 Tigers victory over Boston on Yom Teruah. The next day's Detroit Free Press ran the Hebrew lettering for "Happy New Year" across its front page.

• Columnist and poet Edgar A. Guest expressed the general opinion in a poem titled "Speaking of Greenberg," in which he used the Irish (and thus Catholic) names Murphy and Mulroney.

• The poem ends with the lines "We shall miss him on the infield and shall miss him at the bat / But he's true to his religion—and I honor him for that."

• The Detroit press was not so kind regarding the Yom Kippur decision, nor were many fans, but Greenberg in his autobiography recalled that he received a standing ovation from congregants at the Shaarey Zedek synagogue when he arrived.

• Absent Greenberg, the Tigers lost to the New York Yankees, 5–2. They did, however, win the AL pennant.

• The Tigers went on to face the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1934 World Series (where they lost in 7 games).

• In 1935 Greenberg led the league in RBIs (170), total bases (389), and extra base hits (98), tied Jimmie Foxx for the AL title in home runs (36).

• He also led the Tigers to their first World Series title. (However, he broke his wrist in the second game.) He was unanimously voted the American League's Most Valuable Player.

• He set a record (still standing) of 103 RBIs at the All-Star break – but was not selected to the AL All-Star Game roster.

• He missed nearly the entire season of 1936, healing from the broken arm he suffered playing in the 1935 World Series

• In 1937, he was voted to the All-Star Team.

• Rosh Hashanah (Yom Teruah) was on September 6, 1937, the start of the Shemitah year 5698.

• On September 19, 1937, he hit the first-ever homer into the center field bleachers at Yankee Stadium.

• He led the AL by driving in 183 runs (3rd all-time, behind Hack Wilson’s 191 in 1930), while batting .337.

• He was 2nd in the league in home runs (40)

• Still, Greenberg came in only 3rd in the vote for MVP.

Picture: 1937 AL All Stars

Picture: 1937 AL All Stars

• What a great group of hitters got together that day in Griffith Stadium in Washington D.C.

• From left to right: Lou Gehrig, Joe Cronin, Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Gehringer, Jimmie Foxx, and Hank Greenberg – all Hall of Famers

• Do you notice who is the 7th player from left to right – yes, Hank Greenberg.

• Do you notice how much taller he looks? It’s an optical illusion – he was 6’4”, but he wasn’t as much taller as he looks. Jimmie Foxx, for example, was 6’ tall, as was Lou Gehrig. Or… do you think there are all these coincidences by accident?

• In 1938, Greenberg narrowly missed breaking Babe Ruth's single-season home run record with 58, leading the league for the second time (he had a 59th home run washed away in a rainout).

• From September 5, 1937 to September 25, 1938 – a Shemitah “season” – Greenberg actually hit 64 home runs (more than the Babe’s 60, but over 171 games, not the 154 games played per season at that time).

The Shemitah ends…

• So the judgment commences…

• 29 Elul 5698

• 25 September 1938… Munich Accords

“Peace in our time…”

• Neville Chamberlain on October 5, 1938

• 10 Tishrei 5699

• Yom Kippur… The Day of Atonement

Kristallnacht

• November 9, 1938

• 15 Cheshvan 5699

• The unofficial start to the Holocaust

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