Lou Gehrig

Henry Louis Gehrig, born Ludwig Heinrich Gehrig (June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941), was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the New York Yankees and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. Along with teammate Babe Ruth, Gehrig anchored one of the most powerful offenses in baseball history. He was known as The Iron Horse for his reliability; he played in every Yankees game for nearly 14 years, setting a record that stood until 1995. His career was prematurely ended by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative terminal illness which came to be widely known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease."

Pride of the Yankees

Gehrig joined the Yankees for the 1923 season, making his debut on June 15, 1923. Over his first two seasons, Gehrig would see limited playing time, playing in only 23 games, usually as a pinch hitter. He was not on the Yankees' 1923 World Series roster. In 1925, he batted 437 times for a respectable .295 batting average with 20 home runs and 68 runs batted in (RBI).

Related Topics:
1923 - June 15 - 1923 World Series - 1925

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1926 saw Gehrig's breakout season, batting .313 with 47 doubles, an American League leading 20 triples, 16 home runs, and 112 RBI. In the 1926 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Gehrig hit .348 with two doubles and 4 RBI.

Related Topics:
1926 - American League - 1926 World Series - St. Louis Cardinals

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Gehrig would not bat under .300 again until his last full season in 1938. He would have five seasons with more than 40 home runs. He would lead the League in RBI five times (including a still standing American League record of 184 in 1931) thus establishing himself as a bonafide star.

Related Topics:
1938 - 1931

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Ruth and Gehrig

From 1923-1934, the Yankees had what many consider the best offensive teammates in the history of baseball: Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. As of 2005, the duo still hold numerous records for combined hitting between two teammates over such a period of time.

Related Topics:
1923 - 1934 - Babe Ruth - 2005

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Prolific hitting is the extent of their similarities. While Ruth had been raised in an orphanage, and loved the lavish lifestyle his fame and money brought him, Gehrig was a quiet family man. It was not uncommon for his wife or parents to accompany him on roadtrips with the team. While Ruth would spend his time at clubs eating and drinking too much, Gehrig usually remained in the team hotel. Gehrig went so far as to deny interviews to reporters, if he knew that they cheated on their wives.

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Toward the end of Ruth's tenure with the Yankees, the pair stopped talking with each other over a perceived insult to Gehrig's wife.

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The streak

On June 1, 1925 Lou Gehrig was sent in to pinch hit for shortstop "Pee Wee" Wanninger. The next day, according to legend, regular first baseman Wally Pipp showed up with a headache, and Gehrig was given his job. No one could have imagined that this would be the start of one of baseball's most treasured record breaking achievements: the consecutive games played record.

Related Topics:
June 1 - 1925 - Wally Pipp

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As the streak progressed, Gehrig saw this as an opportunity to make his own headlines. While Ruth still received most of the press for his copious, towering home runs, Gehrig saw this as something that would be unique. In all, Gehrig's streak would last for 2,130 consecutive games, even though in a few instances, he barely kept the streak going through pinch hitting appearances.

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On April 23, 1933, pitcher Earl Whitehall of the Washington Senators knocked Gehrig out with a pitch (he recovered, and was not removed from the game). On June 14, 1933, he was ejected from the game with manager Joe McCarthy, but had already been at bat to get credit for the game. On July 13, 1934, Gehrig suffered a lumbago seizure, and had to be carried from the field. The next day he led off the game to keep the streak going, singled, and was immediately replaced by a pinch runner to rest his back.

Related Topics:
April 23 - 1933 - Washington Senators - June 14 - Joe McCarthy - July 13 - 1934 - Pinch runner

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Throughout it all, he kept playing, earning the nickname "The Iron Horse".

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His consecutive games played streak of 2,130 remained the Major League Baseball record until September 6, 1995, when Baltimore Oriole's shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. played in his 2,131st game to establish a new record.

Related Topics:
Major League Baseball - September 6 - 1995 - Baltimore Oriole - Cal Ripken, Jr.

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Something's wrong

Starting in Spring Training of 1939, almost everyone in the Yankee organization became acutely aware that Lou Gehrig was not the hitter he once was, and that the deterioration of his hitting skills seemed to have accelerated much quicker than the average hitter approaching Gehrig's age of 35. However, despite his reduced performance, Yankee manager Joe McCarthy could not bring himself to bench Gehrig and end his streak.

Related Topics:
1939 - Joe McCarthy

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On April 30, Gehrig went hitless against the Senators, and finally decided that he could go no further. He was not feeling well, but doctors in New York were unable to do anything to help. He had just played in his 2,130th consecutive game, and it would also be his last.

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On May 2, Gehrig approached McCarthy, and asked to be benched "for the good of the team". Gehrig himself took out the lineup card to the umpires before the game, with Babe Dahlgren penciled in as his replacement. Gehrig was granted a leave of absence to pursue testing at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The results of the testing showed that Gehrig was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It was a death sentence.

Related Topics:
May 2 - Mayo Clinic - Rochester, Minnesota - Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

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On June 21, the Yankees announced that Lou Gehrig was retiring due to ALS, but would remain with the team as a captain.

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Farewell, Iron Horse

The Yankees celebrated "Lou Gehrig Day" on July 4. Several people and organizations came forward to give Gehrig gifts and to speak kind words. The Yankees retired his uniform number 4; the first player in history to be afforded that honor. Babe Ruth showed up, and ended their long feud, giving his old teammate a hug. After the presentations, Gehrig was asked if he wanted to speak. He had planned nothing, and took a while to gather himself up as he was clearly touched by the outpouring of love from so many people. After a time, he approached the microphone, and addressed the crowd:

Related Topics:
July 4 - Babe Ruth

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:?Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been to ballparks for seventeen years and I have never received anything but kindness and encouragement for you fans. Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn?t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure I?m lucky. Who wouldn?t have considered it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball?s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky. When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat and vice versa, sends you a gift, that?s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in the white coats remember you with trophies, that?s something. When you have a father and mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body, its a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed, that's the finest I know. So I close by saying that I might have had a bad break, but I have an awful lot to live for.?

Related Topics:
Jacob Ruppert - Ed Barrow - Miller Huggins

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Gehrig was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame that year, one of only a handful of players to enter that Hall of Fame without a five year wait. Part of the reason for the accelerated voting was to ensure that Gehrig would live to see his induction. He was too ill to attend the ceremony.

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On June 2, 1941, at the age of 37, Gehrig died; from then on, the disease he had would, in America, be known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease". He died at his home in Riverdale, New York. His remains were cremated, and interred at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.

Related Topics:
June 2 - 1941 - Riverdale, New York - Kensico Cemetery - Valhalla, New York

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