by Ron Kaplan
NJJN Features Editor

August 4, 2009

Not only was Hank Greenberg baseball’s first Jewish superstar, he was also the first major professional athlete to enlist for service in World War II.

But according to a presentation delivered at the national convention of the Society for American Baseball Research, Greenberg’s patriotism and altruism was tempered by pragmatism. SABR, a 7,000-member international organization of scholars, authors, and aficionados, held its 39th annual convention in Washington, DC last week.

In his presentation — “‘I’ll Go When They Collar Me’: Athletic Heroes, Citizen-Soldiers, and The Press Coverage of Hank Greenberg’s 1941 Military Enlistments” (the plural is not a typo.) — Jacob Baska, a graduate student at Indiana University-Bloomington, told an audience of about 100 that Greenberg always meant to fulfill what he thought of as his duty as an American.

Following the 1940 season, in which the Detroit Tiger slugger helped his team win the American League pennant, Greenberg registered for the draft in accordance with the Selective Service Training Act of 1940. But instead of doing so as a resident of his native New York, he listed his primary residence as the Detroit hotel in which he lived during the season, and “thereby drew a rather low number when draft boards commenced their work,” Baska said.

Naturally, an athlete of Greenberg’s stature drew a hefty amount of media attention and he said told the press he was eager to serve and would request no special treatment. But he did request a delay in his draft board questionnaire, according to Baska’s findings, which didn’t sit so well with some of the writers.

“Prior to the official American declaration of war in December 1941, the SSTA required draftees to serve in the military for one year from the time of their enlistment,” Baska said. “Accordingly, Greenberg would potentially lose his income for two seasons if he were drafted in the spring of 1941 and unable to return for the end of the 1942 season.” When confronted by the press on his return from a vacation in Hawaii, Greenberg confirmed the request but reiterated his intention to serve whenever he was called.

Some sportswriters and columnists, however, chided him for what they perceived as selfishness in a time of crisis. With global tensions increasing, they opined that he should volunteer rather than wait to be drafted. “I’ll go when they collar me,” was Greenberg’s reply, although Baska said it was meant to be humorous.

He said the press did not mention Greenberg’s religion, notable especially in Detroit, where Henry Ford and Father Charles Coughlin often railed against Jews in their media outlets.

Greenberg could have been excused for a medical condition that belied his athletic prowess: flat feet. After all, Baska said, other men with that problem might be dismissed. But government officials were wary of showing Greenberg any consideration that could be construed as favoritism, harkening back to the Civil War when men of means were able to buy their way out of military service. “Greenberg was a test-run for determining the draft’s egalitarianism,” Baska said.

In April 1941, Greenberg was officially classified as 1-A. He went out in high fashion, hitting two home runs in a 7-4 Tigers win in his last game before reporting for duty in early May.

Greenberg served with the Army Air Corps for about six months, reaching the rank of sergeant in his anti-tank company, before he was discharged when the government decided to release all men over 28 years of age (Greenberg would turn 31 on Jan. 1). The date of his discharge: Dec. 5.

Two days later, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Greenberg re-enlisted.

“I’m going back in,” he told the media. “We are in trouble and there is only [one] thing to do — return to service.” Recognizing the dire situation, Greenberg said “Baseball is out the window as far as I’m concerned. I don’t know if I’ll ever return to baseball. If I do, all right. If not, well, that’s all right, too.”

He remained in the service until the middle of 1945, losing almost three and a half prime years. He returned to the Tigers, helping them win the world championship that season.

Greenberg retired in 1947 with 331 home runs and was inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1956. Not a bad career by any means, but SABR members love to speculate what his statistics might have been had those flat feet kept him out of the military.

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