A Well-Kept Secret
From the Glory Years of the Detroit Tigers
by Clayton Klein
Shortly after the passing of his wife of 61 years, author Clayton Klein discovered a secret she had kept throughout their marriage. Her five-year diary revealed that she had corresponded with Detroit Tiger Hall-of-Famer Hank Greenberg when she was a young art student, and the two carried on a correspondence that ended abruptly in 1940.
The secret laid dormant in boxes of old photos, drawings, and memorabilia for over 60 years in the author’s closet. He found a stack of letters Hank had mailed to his wife Marjorie. He also found a series of Home Run Letters and cartoons she had sent to help inspire him as he tried to break Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record. Further investigation among Marjorie’s living relatives and girlhood friends revealed answers to several of the author’s unanswered questions.
In A Well-Kept Secret, Clayton Klein travels back in time to the glory years of the Detroit Tigers, when listening to baseball on the radio was a popular family pastime. He shares stories of Schoolboy Rowe, Goose Goslin, Charlie Gehringer, Mickey Cochrane, and Rudy York. Also included are tales of Dizzy Dean and Cleveland’s Bob Feller.
Throughout the book are drawings by Marjorie Nash Klein—the whimsical cartoons she sent to Hank Greenberg, and the stunning portraits she had autographed by baseball and movie legends.
Discover a more simple time, when a teenager dreamed of meeting her sports idols and eventually formed a friendship with one of Detroit baseball’s greatest heroes.
About the Author
Clayton
Klein is known in Michigan for his walks the breadth and length of the state.
In recent years he has walked from Paradise in the Upper Peninsula to Hell in
Livingston County and beyond into Ohio. The former businessman has authored six
other books, including Cold Summer Wind, which chronicles his
early canoeing adventures in the Canadian wilderness.
A Well-Kept Secret by Clayton Klein
110 pages ♦ 59 illustrations & photos ♦ index ♦ Retail price: $25.00
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