Hank Greenberg Marquee Hall of Fame 1956

Greenberg played thirteen seasons and only nine of them were full ones. He batted .313 with 1,628 hits, 331 home runs and 1,276 runs batted in, led the American League in home runs four times and in runs batted in four times, and won the Most Valuable Player award at first base in 1935 and in left field in 1940.

Only Ruth, with 60 in 1927 and 59 in 1921, had hit more in a season than his 58 in 1938. The year before he drove in 183 runs, one short of Lou Gehrig's American League record. He was the game's most prominent Jewish player, and opposing benches and grandstands made certain he knew it.

He sat out a game during the 1934 pennant race on Yom Kippur, and the country argued about it. Army service erased 1942, 1943 and 1944 from his record and left him 19 games in 1941 and 78 in 1945. Detroit won the World Series in 1935 and again in 1945, and he returned at thirty-five to lead the league in home runs and runs batted in.