I had a wonderful time last week at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. I visited the museum for the opening of “Chasing Dreams: Baseball and Becoming American,” a great new exhibit that shows how the game of baseball has impacted American minority communities over the past century. My 1999 film, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, commemorates the uncommon devotion Jews had for the first great Jewish slugger, Hammerin’ Hank. NMAJH’s new exhibit strikes a similar tone, commemorating the reverence for Jewish ballplayers felt by lifelong fans. We were thrilled that the exhibit asked for two key interviews from my film and its DVD extras.
I was also honored to write the chapter on Hank Greenberg for the companion book to the exhibit, Chasing Dreams: Baseball and Becoming American. Josh Perelman edited together a great group of essays about “Becoming American” through baseball for the book. I contributed a chapter to the book entitled “Hammerin’ Hank Greenberg: Call Him the Hero of Heroes.” You can get more details about the book–and also buy yourself a copy–here.
Here are some snapshots of the exhibits featuring Hank Greenberg:
A display of Hank Greenberg memorabilia
The headline image for the exhibit, Hank admiring a long ball off his own bat
An excerpt from my interview with Arn Tellem that appeared in The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg
A “ladder” of the great Jewish ballplayers comes down to a face-off between Hank and Sandy Koufax. This chart was made by baseball aficionado Dan Okrent who went to school with me in Detroit.
By Aviva Kempner