Hank Greenberg 110th Birthday Virtual Symposium

January 9, 2021
1:00 – 3:30 p.m. Eastern
Live on Zoom

Update: Watch full video of this event

Hank Greenberg, born on New Year’s Day in 1911, was a pioneering superstar and prolific slugger whose emergence in the 1930s transformed the American sports landscape for Jewish and non-Jewish fans alike. We remember his legacy on and off the field and consider the importance of telling his story to future generations.

Schedule

Presentation: Correcting the Record: Revising the Runs & RBI Totals of Hank Greenberg and his Tigers Teammates
Herman Krabbenhoft
1:00 p.m. Eastern

Panel: Hank Greenberg’s Life and Legacy
Steve Greenberg, Aviva Kempner, & John Rosengren
2:00 p.m. Eastern

Breakout Presentations
On-demand: Now available!

Remembering Hank Greenberg’s Number Retirement
Interview with Irwin Cohen

Hank Greenberg’s 1938 Home Run Chase
Interview with Ron Kaplan

Virtual Tour of the Hank Greenberg Walk of Heroes
Photo Gallery

Registration

Admission is free. Here‘s the complete Zoom invitation. Registration is optional. Donations accepted to the following partners via their websites:

Recommended Resources

Speakers

Irwin Cohen worked at Tiger Stadium as a writer, photographer, and member of the Detroit Tigers’ front office. Cohen is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and has written several books, including Jewish Detroit and Tiger Stadium.

Steve Greenberg is a partner at Allen & Company in New York City. He was the founder of Fusient Media Ventures and co-founder of Classic Sports Network (now ESPN Classic). Before that, Greenberg served as Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer of Major League Baseball. Greenberg earned his B.A. at Yale University and his J.D. degree from the UCLA Law School. He was drafted in 1970 by the Washington Senators and spent five years playing in the minor leagues.

Ron Kaplan is the author of Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War (2017), as well as 501 Books Baseball Fans Must Read Before They Die (2013) and  The Jewish Olympics: The History of the Maccabiah Games (2015). He is the former sports and features editor for the New Jersey Jewish News. A long-time member of the Society for American Baseball Research, Kaplan blogs at RonKaplansBaseballBookshelf.com and Kaplan’s Korner.

Aviva Kempner is an American filmmaker whose documentaries investigate non-stereotypical images of Jews in history. Her films include The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (1998), Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg (2009), Rosenwald (2015), The Spy Behind Home Plate (2019). Kempner’s work has received awards such as the D.C. Mayor’s Art Award and the Media Arts Award from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Herman Krabbenhoft is a retired research chemist and an award-winning baseball historian. His articles have appeared in Baseball Digest, The Sporting News, Baseball America, Baseball Weekly and the Baseball Research Journal. He lives in Glenville, New York.

John Rosengren is the author of Hank Greenberg: Hero of Heroes (2013). His most recent books include A Clean Heart (2020) and The Fight of their Lives: How Juan Marichal and John Roseboro Turned Baseball’s Ugliest Brawl into a Story of Forgiveness and Redemption (2014). His freelance journalism has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, and the Washington Post Magazine, among others. He is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, Rosengren earned an MFA in creative writing from Boston University, where he studied with Saul Bellow, Derek Walcott and, most notably, Theo Epstein’s father Leslie. His website is www.johnrosengren.net.

Contact

Questions? Contact organizer & moderator Nathan Bierma at nbierma@gmail.com.

Hosted by SABR Detroit and TigersHistory.com

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