The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg

I'm not American, I'm not Jewish, and I don't like (or understand) baseball. But this film is perfect. For the first time, I can understand the connection between baseball and the American psyche. Every American kid (of any age) should see this. Thank you, Aviva.

As a bigtime baseball fan, I was very happy to find this. Hank Greenberg was one of the best players the game has ever had, he was jewish in a time of rampent anti-Semitism(well, in places at least as the documentary shows), who both served as a role model and example of class in the face of all that.

He was also: in WWII for 4.5 years, made a run at Ruth's Record of 60 in '38(finished with 58), on a team that got into 4 Series and won 2 of them, a prosperous business man and baseball GM in the 50s and 60s. He was a hero for many a Jewish baseball fan back when, and was shown giving Jackie Robinson a helping hand when things were going badly for Robbie in '47...Robinson was quite thankful for the big man's kind words, according to this.

Plus face it-you get some priceless interviews with his teammates-Billy Rogell, Charlie Gehringer, Hal Newhouser, etc. I loved all this, And the footage of the '34-5, '40 and '45 WS he was involved in-can't beat it.

Not fast paced, not meant for the MTV audience, but as a time capsule and fond memorial to a good man-it does its job very well.

***1/2 outta ****

Interesting documentary about Hank Greenberg, the Detroit Tigers slugger who was the first major Jewish baseball star. Greenberg braved bigotry in one of the most anti-Semitic cities, and became one of baseball's great stars of the period. The film is good, but presents too much detail of Greenberg's life; every single statistical detail of his playing days is simply unnecessary. Mainly because of this, the film drags a little and is slow at times. A better idea might have been for a film about early Jewish baseball players, with a focus on Greenberg. Still, a good documentary about an important and interesting subject.

While skipping some details which would be interest to the devoted baseball-phile (like how he compared to his near contemporary Ted Williams), this is a wonderful and charming look at this baseball and American great. This movie appeals not only from a baseball and Jewish perspective, but touches upon what it means to be an American. Highly recommended.

Admittedly, this movie is not for everyone. It is for baseball nuts, people with an interest in Jewish life in America (even if they aren't Jewish themselves), people interested in 20th Century American history, and Tigers fans. I fit the first three categories (I'm a Yankee fan but with a lot of respect for the Tiger franchise), and I thought this movie was terrific. Greenberg was not the first Jewish baseball player, but he was the first to become a star and a hero to non-Jews, paving the way for Sandy Koufax and current Dodger star Shawn Green (as well as Rod Carew, who married a Jewish woman and, as Adam Sandler has pointed out in song, converted). The often terrible anti-Semitism that was often faced in pre-World War II America has been obscured -- it's almost as if the Nazi Holocaust was the only indignity that Jews have suffered. Ms. Kempner did a fantastic job bringing this era of baseball, Jewish life and Detroit life to someone not part of that place, time and faith. And I didn't think this film it was much like the Ken Burns miniseries at all. For one thing, the music was better than in the Burns film, at least until you got to the 1950s songs in "Seventh Inning"! And except for covering Ty Cobb thoroughly, Burns paid little attention to the Tigers. He covered Greenberg's 58-homer season (1938) and mentioned that Denny McLain won 31 games in 1968, but that's it. He didn't even mention Al Kaline except in a story that Bill "Spaceman" Lee told. He didn't cover post-Black Sox Chicago baseball very well either, or California except to discuss Koufax. But what can you do with over 100 years of baseball in 19 hours? Kempner did very well with 75 years of life, and what amounted to 10 full seasons of baseball, in an hour and a half. Greenberg may not have lasted as long in the game as some of its other stars, but his seasons, in baseball and out, were full indeed, and the movie shows this excellently.