Hank Greenberg: 'under-known' hero

Filmmaker relives historic 'Life and Times' of baseball great

By Jamie Allen
CNN.com Senior Writer

ATLANTA (CNN) -- Aviva Kempner doesn't remember when she first heard about Detroit Tigers slugger Hank Greenberg. As far as Kempner can recall, she has always known about Greenberg.

His heroic story was something she heard every day, something she grew up with. Kempner's father, along with much of the Jewish-American community in the 1930s and '40s when Greenberg played, saw him as a living legend.

When he wasn't challenging Babe Ruth's single-season home run record, he was challenging ethnic and religious barriers at a time when Hitler was building and implementing the Nazi war machine that brought the Holocaust.

AUDIO Director Aviva Kempner talks about making "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg" On growing up in a house that worshipped Hank Greenberg ... 704K WAV sound On the making of her documentary ... 816K WAV sound Kempner's favorite moments in Greenberg's career ... 816K WAV sound On what she learned about Greenberg ... 368K WAV sound "We've come a long way ..." 512K WAV sound    VIDEO Clips from 'The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg' Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     RELATED Kahn plays 'The Head Game' 'Boys of Summer' author now turns his attention to the art of pitching   ALSO Get all your baseball coverage from CNNSI.com

But it wasn't until 14 years ago, when Kempner was promoting her documentary "Partisans of Vilna," a film on Jewish resistance against the Nazis, that she decided to create a documentary on Greenberg. That effort, "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg," opens at locations in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Florida on Friday.

Greenberg, who died in 1986 at 75, is "under-known" to most people outside the Jewish-American community, Kempner says.

"If he had been a player on the Yankees or the Red Sox, we would know a lot more about him," she offers, "but he played in the Midwest 70 years ago."

Thanks to Kempner, more will find out what he accomplished. Her vision has finally made it to the big screen, and the response has been rewarding.

"The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg" has already grossed over $1 million at the box office. It's one of the top 20 grossing documentaries of all time in the United States, according to distributor Cowboy Booking International.

And it's just getting warmed up. It will continue to play venues into the fall.

Kempner calls the film's success "a dream come true."

Most of all, she hopes it helps modern students of baseball and history to relive Greenberg's career -- his big splash as a rookie; his decision to skip a game in the middle of a pennant race to honor the sacred Jewish holiday Yom Kippur; the season he hit 58 home runs; and his decision to be the first ballplayer to join the armed services as World War II raged.

"People need heroes," Kempner says. "We don't have as many today."

"I always knew that I had a vision, that Hank's story was an under-known great story of a sports hero, that it was way beyond the Jewish-American community, that I wanted his name to be a household word," she says.

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'The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg'

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