A Detroit Tigers Legend Who Put Country Before Baseball

America is celebrating 250 years and baseball has countless stories of players whose impact extended far beyond the diamond.

What better day to take a look back at a player who put America first over baseball?

Several Detroit Tigers have stepped away from the game to serve their country during wartime. They sacrificed seasons, and in some cases, right in the prime of their playing time. Their service to their country became a part of Tigers history, but it also reminds us of the sacrifices made to keep our country free.

Some of baseball’s greatest heroes wore more than one uniform. Here is one who made his country a priority.

Hank Greenberg

There may not be a better example of a player who served both than Hank Greenberg. He was already one of baseball’s biggest stars at the time after being a part of the 1935 team that won the World Series. He had also earned several MVP awards, and he was drafted Into military service in 1941 before World War II.

Greenberg initially served one year before receiving an honorable discharge given his age, but after Pearl Harbor, he felt the calling and reenlisted.

According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Greenberg told the Associated Press, “I’m going back in. We are in trouble and there is only one thing to do – return to the service. I have not been called back. I am going back of my own accord.”

Ultimately he spent four years on the Army Air Forces and missed the baseball seasons from 1941 through 1945.

He was able to return late in the 1945 campaign to immediately help Detroit capture yet another World Series championship. While some wondered if his baseball career was over given how long he had been away, Greenberg soon silenced those doubters. He hit a home run in his first game back on July 1, 1945.

Greenberg played for the Tigers from 1930 all the way to 1946, and then went on to play his final year of baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Over his 13 years of playing, he amassed an incredible stat line. The All-Star ended his career with a .313 batting average, 1,276 RBI, 331 home runs and 58 stolen bases. This was without nearly four years of stats. Imagine what it could have been.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1956.

Greenberg’s military service interrupted a standout career and likely delayed milestones. But his sacrifice also proved that the love of his country came before his personal accomplishments on the baseball field.

As America marks its 250th birthday, his story is a reminder that some legacies cannot always be measured by championships and plaques, but also by a man’s willingness to answer the call when the nation needed him.

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