Chapter 6 BERKOW: The weather for Game 2 of the Series was cold and windy, 48 degrees at noon. In the stands the customers turned up their overcoat collars and some wrapped themselves in blankets they had brought. “Old-timers,” wrote Dan Daniel in the World-Telegram, “said that this was the coldest day for a World Series since 1907, when the Tigers and Cubs played in a snowstorm.” It was also during Game 2 that Joe Jacobs, the fight manager, in a box seat, made his famous observation: “Gee, it’s cold. I should of stood in bed.”
GREENBERG: In the second game we started off with a four-run first inning. My home run with Charlie Gehringer on base scored the last two runs. In the seventh inning I was on first base after being hit by a pitch, and Fox singled to right field. I rounded third on the hit, and when the ball was thrown to second base I decided to try to score. I slid into home plate. Gabby Hartnett had the plate blocked, and as he fell on me, my left wrist curled up against my body, and when I fell I snapped it back. I finished the ball game but afterward I had excruciating pain in my wrist. That evening I spent the whole train ride to Chicago soaking my hand in extremely hot water and then in an ice bucket. I repeated this for hours, but the next day my wrist had swollen to twice its size. I had X rays taken and it was determined that I had sprained it. It was impossible for me to play; I could barely put my glove on. That finished me for the 1935 World Series, a keen blow to my aspirations to help the Tigers win the world championship after our loss in the Series the year before.
BERKOW: Yom Kippur in 1935 fell on October 7, the day of the scheduled sixth game of the Series. Greenberg’s father told the press before the Series began that Hank’s worry over whether he’d play that game was the cause of his recent batting slump.
“We are Orthodox Jews,” said David Greenberg, “and while not fanatical, or going to the synagogue every day, we always observe the two great holy days, the two days of New Year’s and Yom Kippur.
“The boy has been to everybody including Mr. Navin and while they tell him they can’t make him play they explain they have no substitute for him. After all, he belongs to the public and not just to himself.”
Mrs. Greenberg added, “We’ve raised all our children to be Orthodox and I don’t want him to play, but he will, anyway.
“That is for him to decide.”
Dan Daniel reported that “. . . [yesterday] was Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jews. Greenberg, an Orthodox and devout believer, was eager to play, but his left wrist was so swollen he could not grip a bat.”
GREENBERG: The team went on to win the World Series in six games. Naturally, I was disappointed that I couldn’t play. I was in uniform, but I felt like a stranger on the ball team that I helped lead to the pennant. The Series was clinched in Detroit, and the whole city went wild. The demonstrations in the streets were the greatest celebration in the history of Detroit.
BERKOW: Late in October of 1935 the balloting for the most valuable player in the league was announced. Greenberg was the winner in the American League by a unanimous vote of the eight representatives (one for each of the teams in the league) of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Wes Ferrell, who had won twenty-five games for the Red Sox, was second. Myer of the Senators, who had led the league in hitting, was fourth.
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