Jim Greengrass

Greengrass was born in Addison, New York, where he attended high school. In 1944, he signed with the New York Yankees at age 16 during World War II and his early minor league baseball career spanned almost seven full years, including a failed attempt as a pitcher and two years (1946–47) devoted to military duty. Finally, on August 28, 1952, the pennant-bound Yankees packaged Greengrass, who had spent the season in the Double-A Texas League, three other players and cash in a trade to Cincinnati for the Reds\' former All-Star pitcher, Ewell Blackwell. \n', '

Away from the Yankees, Greengrass got his chance to play regularly in the major leagues. That September he started 17 games in the Cincinnati outfield, collected 24 runs batted in with five home runs, and batted .309. The following season, 1953, Greengrass started 153 of the Redlegs\' 155 official National League games in left field,…