There's Only One Hank...Greenberg

I've been getting more and more interested in the 1930s and '40s Tigers teams lately, and especially the ever-enigmatic, talented, heroic Hank Greenberg. What Jackie Rob did for baseball and for our country in general is, of course, one of the brightest moments of this sport's history. But I think we often forget about what Hank did for this sport before Jackie. As many of you know, he was one of the early Jewish players in professional baseball, and one of two Jewish players in the Hall of Fame, along with Koufax.

I admit that I'm a bit of a late-comer to the Hank fan club. About a year ago I watched a great documentary about Mr. Greenberg on Netflix, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg. It's worth watching, and it really gives you an idea of how Hank had to also go through a ton of idiotic and at times dangerous racial prejudice. And he was an amazing player and a war hero and just a snazzy dude.

So, yada yada, most of you probably know this stuff. Let's get to the card: Here's my first Hank GU card. They're tough to come by, especially if you're the kind of cheap-ass collector (I'm looking at you, Dr. Vealtone (which means you're looking in the mirror (easy on the parentheticals))) who doesn't want to pay more than $10 for one card. Well, after a long wait, I finally snagged this off eBay for around $8, which is a steal if you look around.

Chicle is really hit or miss for me. I love the original vintage Diamond Stars set it's based on, but some of the art is rough. Some of the art is fantastic, too, but this Hank portrait falls in the rough category. Of course I still love it.

Worth noting, this card is a parallel with a shorter print run, only 25, and this is 01/25. So, that makes it an eBay 1/1, right? Ridiculous, I know. I'm half-tempted to resell this on eBay for a bunch more than I paid for it, just to see if it'll sell if I play up the stupid 1/1ness, which the original seller didn't do. Then I could get more Hank bats with the profits. What do you think? Stupid plan? Really, I can't lose. Any Hank card is a great card.