Yesterday, if Jeopardy had asked me to name the most significant Jewish baseball player in major league baseball history, I would have said, "Who is Sandy Koufax?" I remember Koufax sitting out a possible World Series start because it fell on a Jewish holiday back in the 1960s.

Tonight I know much more about Jews in baseball, so I now realize that the correct Jeopardy question is "Who is Hank Greenberg?" No white man ever suffered as much discrimination in major league baseball, as even his hometown fans in Detroit occasionally heaped anti-Semitic remarks at the prolific slugger. The fans in opposing cities and the players on opposing teams were even less kind, yet Greenberg remained a model of decorum, preferring to extract his “revenge” on the playing field.

Aviva Kempner produced, wrote, and directed this remarkable biography that consists of numerous archival film clips and interviews with friends, fans, family, and teammates of Greenberg. There are even a few 1984 clips of an interview with Greenberg that are woven so skillfully into The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg that you will think that Greenberg recorded it specifically for this project. You'll get to see Greenberg smash many home runs, miss a few pitches very badly, and see some vintage World Series clips from 1934, 1935, 1940, and 1945 along with other baseball footage. Even though the focus lies with Greenberg's baseball career, the film actually covers much more ground.

Literary critic Jacques Barzun once wrote "Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball ..." That applies directly to The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg. By exploring Greenberg’s life, we learn a great deal about American life and attitudes during the 1930s. We see an America that brutally ostracizes and stereotypes Jews in the 1930s, then joins together during World War II to fight fascist regimes in Germany and Japan, and begins to accept people from minority groups as fellow Americans after the war. This has to be one of the most challenging times in history for Jewish people with Hitler's rise to power and with the infamous German-American bund rally being held in New York City in 1939, and the film shows us how Greenberg dealt with the situation.

While people intensely interested in either baseball or in Jewish history will be the prime audience, the documentary contains some clever entertaining touches for the more casual fan without straying from its educational value. For starters just listen to the Yiddish version of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" sung by Henry Sapoznik. Then there are some funny exchanges with a lady who would have been classified as a groupie since she practically stalked Greenberg wherever he played. Most telling is a photograph she took of herself and Greenberg at the Florida stadium during Spring training--it shows the young lady in the foreground with Greenberg to her left behind a screen. She admits that Greenberg had no idea who she was or that he was photographed with her. See what you think of that scene-–it gave me a few chuckles.

There’s also some interesting stories related by some Jewish rabbis. One tells how Greenberg was trying to decide whether he should play during Rosh Hoshana and sought advice from a Detroit rabbi, who consulted the Torah very loosely and told him that he should play. Another rabbi explains how they would play "baseball games" with the Torah itself, as the letters of the words all had special meanings that they would relate to baseball terms. Other stories are interspersed throughout the film, but essentially all of them indicate how highly the Jewish community thought of the only openly Jewish ballplayer in the major leagues in the 1930s and 1940s.

Not that there hadn't been other Jewish players, but they had disguised their names. When the film mentions this, we are immediately dispensed to a clip of Gregory Peck's 1947 film Gentleman's Agreement where he attempts to get a hotel room registered as "Mr. Green." Peck is denied a room because he is Jewish – the disguised name doesn't help. Other film clips are used effectively as well, including a few from Pride of the Yankees and a clip from a Tracy – Hepburn film that parallels the ignorance of Greenberg’s first wife about baseball.

I know that I learned a great deal from this film, and wish I'd seen this before going to the Hall of Fame where Greenberg is suitably enshrined. I knew that Greenberg was the first player to challenge Babe Ruth's landmark 60 home run season record in 1938 when he slammed 58, but I had no idea of his importance to Jewish people. He was a real hero to many Jewish people, as exemplified with the remembrances of Michigan Senator Carl Levin and Representative Sander Levin – you can feel their increased energy when they enthusiastically discuss their boyhood hero. Even Walter Mathau tells how he joined a tennis club that Greenberg belonged to just so he could meet his hero and have lunches; Walter admits that he doesn't even play tennis!

The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg is an enjoyable gem of a film – the best sports related documentary I've seen this side of When We Were Kings and Hoop Dreams because it actually does much more than illuminate one man. Through its carefully researched and selected film clips, it reveals a great deal about what America was all about in the 1930s and 1940s. This will be a difficult film to find in most of the country, as it will be relegated to a few art houses, but if you are a baseball fan, are Jewish, or enjoy learning about American history during this particular generation, seek this film out. You won't be disappointed.