But the way pitchers handled Greenberg early in the season was clearly different than the way they approached him as Ruth’s record came into view. Greenberg had four three-walk games in the final two months of the 1938 season, three in September.

By comparison, he had no three-walk games in 1937, when he drove in 183 runs; one in 1935, when he won his first Most Valuable Player award; and three in 1940, his second M.V.P. year.

Photo

Over all, Greenberg walked in 15.9 percent of his plate appearances through the end of August 1938. In September, that rate jumped to 20.4 percent. His walk rate was 14.5 percent in 1937 and 15 percent in 1939.

Something changed down the stretch in 1938, and it was not in Greenberg’s approach.

He said he felt “if I, as a Jew, hit a home run, I was hitting one against Hitler.” So he had compelling reasons not to take a walk.

Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters.

Greenberg’s treatment stands in contrast to the other single-season record challengers. In 1932, Jimmie Foxx also finished with 58 home runs. Foxx walked in 16.6 percent of his plate appearances that season; that September, his walk rate was 17.1 percent.

Roger Maris had a season-long walk rate of 13.4 percent in 1961, the year he hit 61 home runs to break Ruth’s record. That September, Maris walked in only 12.2 percent of his plate appearances.

In 1998, when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa took aim at Maris’s mark, their walk rates held steady late in the season. McGwire walked in 23.8 percent of his plate appearances; from Aug. 1 through Sept. 8, when he passed Maris, he walked 24.1 percent of the time. Sosa, a free swinger, walked 10.1 percent of the time in 1998. From Aug. 1 on, that number was 11.2 percent; from Sept. 1 on, 10.4 percent.

Only Greenberg, among all these would-be home run kings, had a significant increase in his walk rate. One player with a comparable spike in walks while in pursuit of the single-season home run mark was Barry Bonds in 2001, his 73-homer year. Bonds walked in 26.7 percent of his plate appearances that season, but in 33.6 percent after Sept. 1.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

This seemed to signal a paradigm shift in pitching to Bonds that lasted well beyond 2001. Bonds walked in 32.4 percent of his plate appearances the next season. By 2004, that number had jumped to 37.6 percent. What is interesting about Greenberg’s case is that his increase in bases on balls was concentrated during the period he was pursuing Ruth’s record.

He fell short of Ruth for other reasons as well. Greenberg played in only 155 games (Ruth played in 151 in 1927); Maris and those who came after had benefit of 162. Greenberg played before the advent of night games (and lights), so many of his at-bats came at twilight, when it was harder to see the ball. And his final game of the 1938 season was called after seven innings because of darkness.

But the statistical record stands as evidence that Greenberg’s religion might have been an additional barrier.