Hank Greenberg Stats

Presented in this article are Hank Greenberg’s real baseball stats per official at bat. How many runs, RBI’s and home runs (HR’s) did Hammerin’ Hank get per official at bat? Presenting the stats in this manner is meant to give you a clearer picture of what on average Hank Greenberg accomplished for each official at bat he had in the major leagues.

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How are the stats calculated out? Simply by dividing each stat listed by official at bats. Just like you do with hits for batting average. Here we are dividing total runs scored by total official at bats to get a player’s run average, total RBI’s by total official at bats for a player’s RBI average and total HR’s by total official at bats for a player’s HR average. For example: if a player has scored 1,000 runs in 5,000 official at bats his run average would be .200. If the player had 900 RBI’s his RBI average would be .180. And if he had 200 HR’s his HR average would be .040. So on average this player would have scored a run 20% of the time, driven in a run 18% of the time and hit a HR 4% of the time he recorded an official at bat in the major leagues.

Obviously the higher the averages the better the player was. Here is a rough guide to determine how a players averages stack up.

Run Average and RBI Average – anything over .150 is good. Anything above .200 is excellent, and the very best players in history have occasionally gone over .300 in some seasons.

HR Average – anything over .055 is good. Anything above .065 is really good and anything above .075 means one of the best HR hitters of all time.

Here are Hank Greenberg’s raw numbers (AB’s/runs/RBI’s/HR’s) 5193/1051/331/1276.

Hank Greenberg’s Career Numbers

Run Average – .202

RBI Average – .246

HR Average – .064

So on average Hank Greenberg scored a run 20.2% of the time, drove in a run 24.6% of the time and hit a HR 6.4% of the time he stepped up to the plate and had an official at bat in the major leagues.

Hank Greenberg played first base in the major leagues 13 years. All but his last year were played for the Detroit Tigers (1930-1941 and 1945-1946). He played in 1947 for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Nicknamed “Hammerin Hank“, Greenberg won the American League MVP Award twice (1935 and 1940), led the league in home runs 4 times (1935, 1938, 1940 and 1946), in RBI’s 4 times (1935, 1937, 1940 and 1946) and led the Tigers to 4 World Series, two of which they won in 1935 and 1945.

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Hank Greenberg was the first Jewish superstar baseball player. He faced antisemitism from fans and opposing ballplayers during his career but it never stopped his tremendous production on the field. I believe only Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig have higher lifetime RBI averages. Hammerin’ Hank missed 3 full seasons and most of 2 other seasons when he served in the United States Air Force during WW II.

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If not for the lost years Hank Greenberg would likely have hit 500 career home runs and driven in almost 2,000 RBI’s.

Jackie Robinson said of Hank Greenberg, “Class tells. It sticks out all over Mr. Greenberg.”     

Hank Greenberg was elected by the baseball writers and inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1956.