Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Hank Greenberg the Jewish Babe Ruth/Moses/Jackie Robinson
If the point of "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg" is lost on the viewer, then history itself put the writing on the wall when the owner of the Detroit Tigers misunderstood the meaning of an old photograph of Greenberg and traded his star to the Pittsburgh Pirates for the 1947 season. Greenberg's last season in the baseball was Jackie Robinson's first, and Greenberg was in the National League to witness it first hand. Not surprisingly, Greenberg was one of the few opposing ball players to offer Robinson encouragement in breaking baseball's color line. But then, as this 1999 documentary proved repeatedly, no white player in the history of the game had been subjected to the abuse Greenberg suffered because his was Jewish. Without a doubt Robinson suffered more, maybe even more that first season than Greenberg his entire career. But this documentary also shows that Greenberg was as important to the American Jewish community as Jackie was to African Americans. I remembered that Greenberg was the first person to win the MVP award at two different positions and that in 1935 he had 100 R.B.I.'s at the break and was not selected for the All-Star team (Manager Mickey Cochrane did not want to be accused of playing favorites with someone from his own team and picked Lou Gehrig and Jimmy Foxx instead). But what I really picked up from this documentary was how good Greenberg made the Detroit Tigers during his career. If you look at his career batting statistics you will see that Greenberg played eight full seasons and batted in over 100 runs seven times for the Tigers between 1933 and 1946 (several seasons were lost to injury and military service). The Tigers played in the World Series in 1934, 1935, 1940, and 1945, and Greenberg was the common denominator for those teams. You will be hard pressed to find a major league baseball player with that sort of success ratio since Greenberg's day outside of New York Yankees like Berra, Ford, Mantle, and Jeter. Writer-director Aviva Kempner balances Greenberg's playing career with the impact he had as baseball's first Jewish star. There are some clips from an old interview with Greenberg, who died in 1986. But most of the talking heads are from contemporary clips of Greenberg's family, former teammates, reporters, and lifelong fans. The last category are the most interesting, because it includes not only famous people like Walter Matthau and Alan Dershowitz, but ordinary fans, including several rabbis and a self-admitted "groupie." These are the people with whom "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg" resonates the most. Clearly this is a documentary which will be of interest to baseball fans but also to those interested in the story of a true American hero. Final Note: The documentary does not point out that in 1938 when Greenberg hit 58 home runs, two short of Babe Ruth's record, he hit two balls into a screen that were ground rule doubles; however, that screen was not there when Ruth played in 1927
Rating:  - A Thorough and Rounded Biographical Film
My father often talks of how Hank Greenberg is not given the credit he deserves as a ballplayer, as a great power hitter and as an amazing story of persistence in coming back as a tremendous player after serving in World War II. I bought him this video as a Father's Day gift, and I think I enjoyed it as much as he did. This documentary/biography is not at all dry. Many people, famous and not, are shown speaking of their admiration for Hank Greenberg as a player and as a man. The video emphasizes heavily his role as the first openly Jewish player in major league baseball, the bigotry he faced, and the grace with which he responded to it. A home run with two men on base was Greenberg's reply to an ethnic slur; what could be better? I enjoy the statistics of baseball and Greenberg's performance numbers were not mentioned as much as I would have liked, but that is a minor point. After seeing this video, I feel I know the first Hammerin' Hank as well as any of today's players, and admire him more than the vast majority playing today, not just for his hitting prowess but for his character.
Rating: - OVERCOMING BIGOTRY IN BASEBALL'S GOLDEN YEARS
As far as baseball history goes, Hank Greenberg was a giant of a ballplayer. The way this man could hit and field, and his physical size made a big impact on the Great American Pastime between the 1930s and 1950s ... called by some American baseball's golden years. Players were well paid, but not astronomically as today. They were more in it for the game than for the money.Playing for the Detroit Tigers , Greenberg had a tough time because of his Jewish background. As the documenetary movie tells us, often in Greenberg's own words on camera, he was attacked more often by baseball fans' bigotry than the other players simply because he was the only Jew on his team. Other players had to endure ethnic slurs: but there were several players from each ethnic group, but only one Jew - Hank Greenberg. He seems to have taken it in stride. At one point, Greenberg says that he used these taunts to motivatre his home run batting. That's the way he hit back. There are some humerous anecdotes told us by Greenberg, such as when a New York City cop stopped him during the early part of his career, for a traffic violation. The cop couldn't believe it when Greenberg said that his occupation is professional baseball player. The policemen had not yet heard that there was a Jewish baseball player. I can still recall Hank Greenberg while he was playing baseball, during my boyhood (I was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan). The documentary movie evokes the earlier, simpler days of baseball. As movies go, this documnetary's presentation style leaves something to be desired. It's a little lackluster. But the archival footage and on camera comments by Greenberg, his family members, and the likes of Greenberg fans actor Walter Matthau and Alan Dershowitz make it very entertaining and informative. The point is also made several times in the movie that Greenberg was a trail blazer for all "minority" baseball players, such as Jackie Robinson. You don't need to be a baseball fan to be entertained and educated by "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg." This movie certainly earned its Academy Award nomination.
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