Hank Greenberg

American professional baseball player in the 1930s and 1940s. A first baseman primarily for the Detroit Tigers, Greenberg was one of the premier power hitters of his generation. Greenberg was a five-time All-Star, was twice named the American League's Most Valuable Player, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1956. Greenberg was the first Jewish superstar in American professional sports. He attracted national attention in 1934 when he refused to play baseball on Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, even though the Tigers were in the middle of a pennant race and he was not in practice a religious Jew. He married Carol Gimbel (of the New York department store family) on February 18, 1946, three days after signing a $60,000 ($706,000 today) contract with the Tigers. The couple had three children—sons Glenn and Stephen and a daughter, Alva—before divorcing in 1958. In 1966, Greenberg married Mary Jo Tarola, a minor actress who appeared on-screen as Linda Douglas, and remained with her until his death. Link to Wikipedia biography