HANK GREENBERG - DOCUMENT SIGNED 02/25/1953 - HFSID 290053

HANK GREENBERG
As General Manager of the Cleveland Indians, he signs a copy of Ted Wilks' contract.
Contract signed: "Hank Greenberg" as General Manager, 4 pages (integral leaf), 8½x11. No place, 1953 February 25. Standard American League Uniform Player's Contract between the Cleveland Indians and Theodore Wilks, hiring the ballplayer for one season at a salary of $16,000. Wilks has not signed this copy of the contract. Despite losing three seasons to World War II and another to a fractured wrist, Hank Greenberg (1911-1986) still walloped 331 home runs. He played all but his final season with Detroit. His peak year was 1938, when the slugging right-hander hit 58 homers after driving in 183 runs the year before. His last day of the season, ninth inning grand slam won the 1945 pennant for the Tigers. Greenberg led the American League in home runs in 1935 (36 tied with Foxx), 1938 (58), 1940 (41) and 1946 (44). He was the A.L.'s Most Valuable Player twice (1935, 1940). As GM of the Indians (1950-1957), Greenberg helped bring Cleveland an American League pennant in 1954. The Tribe has not won one since. Greenberg had acquired veteran relief pitcher Ted Wilks in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1952, and the trade was a good one for Cleveland despite a poor performance by Wilks in his last two seasons. Arriving with him was a good defensive shortstop, George Strickland, who anchored the Indian defense in the pennant year and beyond.Scattered light wrinkling. Otherwise, fine condition.