Read an excerpt from Tom Gage’s The Big 50

This excerpt from The Big 50: Detroit Tigers: The Men and Moments that Made the Detroit Tigers by Tom Gage is printed with the permission of Triumph Books. For more information and to order a copy, please visit www.triumphbooks.com/big50tigers.

Courtesy of Triumph Books“I’m going back in. We’re in trouble, and there’s only one thing to do—return to the service.” —Hank Greenberg, December 9, 1941

He was a true star. He hit home runs. He drove in runs. He was friendly, handsome, and articulate. In today’s world Hammerin’ Hank Greenberg would have been a multimedia, social media, and—any type of media—darling. And although he was a target of slurs for his Jewish heritage—baseball being the…