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Posted By: Jason L

As many of you who have read my posts may recall, I have mentioned that I had a couple cousins play MLB in the 30s and 40s, and I recently discovered that my wife is related to Hank Greenberg through marriage.

Well, I had an amazing discovery today!

One of my casual research habits is to simply browse through the indexes of baseball books at book stores, looking for references to my cousins. I picked up a used book, titled "The Baseball Hall of Fame 50th Anniversary Book" by Gerald Astor. I didn't figure to find anything, but sure enough, there in the Index, it said that Jeep Handley was mentioned on page 222. So I flip to it, and it is in the middle of a piece on Jackie Robinson, written by Roger Kahn.

Here's the quote, in Kahn's words, as he relayed an interview he had conducted with Jackie in 1952:
He didn't like to dwell on the bad times he'd gone through-racial abuse, bean balls and the rest. Instead, he talked about the good times that lightened his heart. He appreciated the friendship of his teammates, men like Pee Wee Reese and Carl Erskine. He said that the first opposing player who wished him well was Jeep Handley, who played infield for the Phillies in 1947. "Hank Greenberg talked to me too, but Handley was the first."

I almost peed my pants! Needless to say, I bought the book...

I know that was off topic,...thanks for indulging me!
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