"Meet one of America's earliest Jewish-American heroes.The 1930s were a time when "outsiders" were not welcome in Major League Baseball. Henry Benjamin Greenberg began as one of those outsiders, but went on to become one of baseball's greatest right-handed batters.Hammerin' Hank dominated baseball from 1933 to 1948 and was eventually inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But Hank Greenberg was more than an amazing athlete. While Jews had been playing baseball since the 1800s, Hammerin' Hank was baseball's first Jewish superstar" --

A picture book biography of African-American baseball player Hank Aaron.

"There was nobody in the history of the game who took more abuse than Greenberg, unless it was Jackie Robinson." So says Birdie Tebbetts, a Detroit teammate who watched as Hammerin' Hank Greenberg smashed his way through the major leagues of baseball. Arguably the greatest Jewish ballplayer who ever lived, Greenberg smacked out homer after homer leading the Detroit Tigers to the World Series four times. Written as a screenplay, the life of Hank Greenberg is filled with hate, love, frustration and redemption. It is a story that transcends the times and is as much relevant today as it was in years past. The struggle against prejudice and hatred is a human struggle for acceptance and understanding and Hank Greenberg's story is a story of the human condition.

Sydney Taylor Honor Book Learn all about tthe first Jewish baseball hall-of-famer, Hank Greenberg, in this thought-provoking biography for young readers. Hank Greenberg battled anti-Semitism on and off the field. Raised in New York City, he was the son of Romanian-Jewish immigrants, served during World War II, and then had a long career as a baseball player with the Detroit Tigers—where the moniker Hammerin' Hank came to life—and later as a baseball executive. Readers will experience the prejudice Greenberg endured, even as he made his way into the annals of baseball history: two-time American League MVP, 331 home runs, and first Jewish baseball player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Archival photos add to the appeal of this Sydney Taylor Honor Book.

Profiles the Jewish-American baseball player who, in 1934, risked his chance to beat Babe Ruth's home run record by sitting out a game on Yom Kippur, and describes his impact on Jewish-American history.

June 12, 1952—only a local sportswriter showed up at the Eau Claire airport to greet a newly signed eighteen-year-old shortstop from Alabama toting a cardboard suitcase. "I was scared as hell," said Henry Aaron, recalling his arrival as the new recruit on the city’s Class C minor league baseball team. Forty-two years later, as Aaron approached the stadium where the Eau Claire Bears once played, an estimated five thousand people surrounded a newly raised bronze statue of a young "Hank" Aaron at bat. "I had goosebumps," he said later. "A lot of things happened to me in my twenty-three years as a ballplayer, but nothing touched me more than that day in Eau Claire." For the people of Eau Claire, Aaron’s summer two years before his Major League debut with the Milwaukee Braves symbolizes a magical time, when baseball fans in a small city in northern Wisconsin could live a part of the dream.

This definitive biography of Henry (Hank) Aaron—one of baseball's immortal figures—is a revelatory portrait of a complicated, private man who through sports became an enduring American icon. “Beautifully written and culturally important.” —The Washington Post “The epic baseball tale of the second half of the 20th century.” —Atlanta Journal Constitution After his retirement in 1976, Aaron’s reputation only grew in magnitude. But his influence extended beyond statistics. Based on meticulous research and extensive interviews The Last Hero reveals how Aaron navigated the upheavals of his time—fighting against racism while at the same time benefiting from racial progress—and how he achieved his goal of continuing Jackie Robinson’s mission to obtain full equality for African Americans, both in baseball and society, while he lived uncomfortably in the public eye.