The remarkable life story of the first Jewish superstar athlete, by New York Times best-selling author Mark Kurlansky One of the reasons baseball fans so love the sport is that it involves certain physical acts of beauty. And one of the most beautiful sights in the history of baseball was Hank Greenberg's swing. His calmly poised body seemed to have some special set of springs with a trigger release that snapped his arms and swept the bat through the air with the clean speed and strength of a propeller. But what is even more extraordinary than his grace and his power is that in Detroit of 1934, his swing--or its absence--became entwined with American Jewish history. Though Hank Greenberg was one of the first players to challenge Babe Ruth's single-season record of sixty home runs, it was the game Greenberg did not play for which he is best remembered. With his decision to sit out a 1934 game between his Tigers and the New York Yankees because it fell on Yom Kippur, Hank Greenberg became a hero to Jews throughout America. Yet, as Kurlansky writes, he was the quintessential secular Jew, and to celebrate him for his loyalty to religious observance is to ignore who this man was. In Hank Greenberg Mark Kurlansky explores the truth behind the slugger's legend: his Bronx boyhood, his spectacular discipline as an aspiring ballplayer, the complexity of his decision not to play on Yom Kippur, and the cultural context of virulent anti-Semitism in which his career played out. What Kurlansky discovers is a man of immense dignity and restraint with a passion for sport who became a great reader--a man, too, who was an inspiration to the young Jackie Robinson, who said, "Class tells. It sticks out all over Mr. Greenberg."

"The autobiography of the first designated hitter to play in the MLB-now in paperback! On April 6, 1973, Ron Blomberg took a swing at home plate that changed baseball history. Through a quirk of fate the young Jewish Yankee became the first designated hitter to play an MLB game. At the time, George Steinbrenner had just taken control of the Bronx Bombers, the National League was still refusing to adopt the DH rule, and New Yorkers were pinning their hopes on a new generation of players. In this heart-warming autobiography, now in paperback, Blomberg relives the moment that made his career and the countless experiences before and after that helped boost him to legendary heights. In Designated Hebrew Blomberg recounts a time when baseball, and America itself, were changing. Before Blomberg arrived in New York, the Yankees only employed three Jews in the entire organization. Though his career goals were eventually thwarted by injury, Blomberg still represented hope and pride to millions of Americans across the country. This unforgettable story is the journey of one man as he learns to balance life, religion, and ultimately, baseball"--

A biography of the powerful home run hitter who became the first Jewish player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.