Lou Gehrig Totally Explained

Everything about Lou Gehrig totally explained

Henry Louis "Lou" Gehrig (June 19 1903 – June 2 1941), born Ludwig Heinrich Gehrig, was an American baseball player in the 1920s and 1930s, who set several Major League records and was popularly called the "The Iron Horse" Gehrig was voted the greatest first baseman of all time by the Baseball Writers' Association. A native of New York City, he played for the New York Yankees until his career was cut short by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), now commonly referred to in the United States as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Over a 15-season span between and, he played in 2,130 consecutive games. The streak ended when Gehrig became disabled with the fatal neuromuscular disease that claimed his life two years later. His streak, long believed to be one of baseball's few unbreakable records, stood for 56 years until finally broken by Cal Ripken, Jr., of the Baltimore Orioles on September 6, . Gehrig accumulated 1,995 RBIs in seventeen seasons with a lifetime batting average of .340, a lifetime on-base percentage of .447, and a lifetime slugging percentage of .632. A seven-time All-Star (the first All-Star game wasn't until 1933; he didn't play in the 1939 game, retiring a week before it was held — at Yankee Stadium), he won the American League's Most Valuable Player award in and and was a Triple Crown winner in, leading the American League in batting average, home runs, and RBIs.
Gehrig was the leading vote-getter on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, chosen by fans in 1999.

Early life

Gehrig was born in the Yorkville section of Manhattan, weighing almost at birth, the son of poor German immigrants Heinrich Gehrig and Christina Fack. Both parents considered baseball to be a schoolyard game; his domineering mother steered young Lou toward a career in business. Gehrig attended Columbia University (although he didn't graduate), where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He could not, at first, play intercollegiate baseball for the Lions because he played baseball for a summer professional league during his freshman year.
   On April 18,, when Yankee Stadium opened for the first time, Babe Ruth christened the new stadium with a home run. On the same afternoon at Columbia, pitcher Gehrig struck out seventeen Williams batters for a team record. However, Columbia lost the game. Only a handful of collegians were at South Field that day, but more significant was the presence of Yankee scout Paul Krichell, who had been trailing Gehrig for some time. However, it wasn't Gehrig’s pitching that particularly impressed him. Instead, it was Gehrig’s powerful left-handed hitting. During the time Krichell had been watching Gehrig, Gehrig had hit some of the longest home runs ever seen on various Eastern campuses, including a blast on April 28 at Columbia's South Field which landed at 116th Street and Broadway, with Krichell watching. Within two months Gehrig had signed his name to a Yankee contract.
   Gehrig's breakout season came in . He batted .313 with 47 doubles, an American League leading 20 triples, 16 home runs, and 112 RBIs.
   In, Gehrig put up one of the greatest seasons by any batter in history. That year, Gehrig hit .373, with 218 hits: 52 doubles, 18 triples, 47 home runs, 175 runs batted in, and a .765 slugging percentage
   Gehrig established himself as a bona fide star in his own right despite playing in the shadow of Ruth for two-thirds of his career. Gehrig became one of the greatest run producers in baseball history. Gehrig had 509 RBIs during a three-season stretch (1930-32). Only two other players, Jimmie Foxx with 507 and Hank Greenberg with 503, have surpassed 500 RBIs in any three seasons; their totals were non-consecutive. (Babe Ruth had 498.) Gehrig had six seasons where he batted .350 or better (with a high of .379 in ), plus a seventh season at .349. He had 8 seasons with 150 or more RBIs, 11 seasons with over 100 walks, 8 seasons with 200 or more hits, and 5 seasons with more than 40 home runs. Gehrig led the American League in runs scored 4 times, home runs 3 times, and RBIs 5 times. His 184 RBIs in is still an American League record (and second all-time to Hack Wilson's 191 RBIs in 1930). Three of the top six RBI seasons in baseball history were Gehrig's. Lou Gehrig also holds the baseball record for most seasons with 400 total bases or more, accomplishing this feat five times in his career.
   On June 3,, Gehrig hit four home runs in a game against the Philadelphia Athletics and narrowly missed another one when he hit a deep fly ball to center field and center fielder Al Simmons made an amazing leaping catch to get him out. After the game, Manager Joe McCarthy told him, "Well, Lou, nobody can take today away from you..." However, on that same day, John McGraw chose to announce his retirement after 30 years of managing the New York Giants, and so McGraw, not Gehrig, got the headlines in the sports sections the next day and Gehrig, as usual, had second-place treatment.
   In September 1933, Gehrig married Eleanor Twitchell, the daughter of Chicago Parks Commissioner Frank Twitchell.

2,130 consecutive games

On June 1, Gehrig was sent in to pinch hit for light-hitting shortstop Paul "Pee Wee" Wanninger. The next day, June 2, Yankee manager Miller Huggins started Gehrig in place of regular first baseman Wally Pipp. Pipp was in a slump, as were the Yankees as a team, so Huggins made several lineup changes to boost their performance. Fourteen years later, Gehrig had played 2,130 consecutive games. In a few instances, Gehrig managed to keep the streak intact through pinch hitting appearances and fortuitous timing; in others, the streak continued despite injuries. Late in life, X-rays disclosed that Gehrig had sustained several fractures during his playing career. For example:

On April 23, Washington Senators pitcher Earl Whitehall beaned Gehrig, knocking him nearly unconscious. Still, Gehrig recovered and wasn't removed from the game.

On June 14, Gehrig was ejected from a game, along with manager Joe McCarthy, but he'd already been at bat, so he got credit for playing the game.

On July 13, Gehrig suffered a "lumbago attack" and had to be assisted off the field. In the next day's away game, he was listed in the lineup as "shortstop", batting lead-off. In his first and only plate appearance, he singled and was promptly replaced by a pinch runner to rest his throbbing back, never actually taking the field. A&E's Biography speculated that this illness, which he also described as "a cold in his back", might have been the first symptom of his debilitating disease. Gehrig's record of 2,130 consecutive games played stood until September 6,, when Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. played in his 2,131st consecutive game to establish a new record.

Illness

At the midpoint of the 1938 season, Gehrig's performance began to diminish. At the end of that season, he said, "I tired mid season. I don't know why, but I just couldn't get going again." Although his final 1938 stats were respectable (.295 batting average, 114 RBIs, 170 hits, .523 slugging percentage, 758 plate appearances with only 75 strikeouts, and 29 home runs), it was a dramatic drop from his 1937 season (when he batted .351 and slugged .643). In the 1938 post-season his batting average was .286 and all four of his hits were singles (for an unusually low .286 slugging percentage).
   When the Yankees began their spring training in St. Petersburg, Florida, it was obvious that Gehrig no longer possessed his once-formidable power. Even Gehrig's base running was affected, and at one point he collapsed at Al Lang Field, the Yankees' spring training park at the time in St. Petersburg. By the end of spring training, Gehrig hadn't hit even one home run.Throughout his career, Gehrig was considered an excellent runner on the basepaths, but as the 1939 season got underway, his coordination and speed had deteriorated significantly.
   By the end of April, his statistics were the worst of his career, with just 1 RBI and a .143 batting average. Fans and the press openly speculated on Gehrig's abrupt decline. James Kahn, a reporter who wrote often about Gehrig, said in one article:
Joe McCarthy found himself resisting pressure from Yankee management to switch Gehrig to a part-time role. Things came to a head when Gehrig had to struggle to make a routine put-out at first base. The pitcher, Johnny Murphy, had to wait for Gehrig to drag himself over to the bag so he could catch Murphy's throw. Murphy said, "Nice play, Lou." McCarthy acquiesced and put Ellsworth "Babe" Dahlgren in at first base, and also said that whenever Gehrig wanted to play again, the position was his. Gehrig himself took the lineup card out to the shocked umpires before the game, ending the 14-year stamina streak. Before the game began, the Briggs Stadium announcer told the fans, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the first time Lou Gehrig's name won't appear on the Yankee lineup in 2,130 consecutive games." The Detroit Tigers fans gave Gehrig a standing ovation while he sat on the bench with tears in his eyes. The prognosis was grim: rapidly increasing paralysis, difficulty in swallowing and speaking, and a life expectancy of fewer than three years, although there would be no impairment of mental functions. Eleanor Gehrig was told that the cause of ALS was unknown but it was painless, non-contagious and cruel — the central nervous system is destroyed but the mind remains fully aware to the end.
   Gehrig often wrote letters to Eleanor, and in one such note written shortly afterwards, said (in part):
Mayo Clinic, he briefly rejoined the Yankees in Washington, DC. As his train pulled into Union Station, he was greeted by a group of Boy Scouts, happily waving and wishing him luck. Gehrig waved back, but he leaned forward to his companion, a reporter, and said, "They're wishing me luck — and I'm dying." Dignitaries extolled the dying slugger and the members of the 1927 Yankees World Championship team, known as "Murderer's Row", attended the ceremonies. New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia called Gehrig "the greatest prototype of good sportsmanship and citizenship" and Postmaster General James Farley concluded his speech by predicting, "For generations to come, boys who play baseball will point with pride to your record."
   The Yankees retired Gehrig's uniform number "4", making him the first player in Major League Baseball history to be accorded that honor. Gehrig was given many gifts, commemorative plaques, and trophies. Some came from VIPs; others came from the stadium's groundskeepers and janitorial staff. Footage of the ceremonies shows Gehrig being handed various gifts, and immediately setting them down on the ground, because he no longer had the arm strength to hold them. It is current on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
   After the presentations and remarks by Babe Ruth, Gehrig addressed the crowd:
Final years "Don't think I'm depressed or pessimistic about my condition at present," Lou Gehrig wrote following his retirement from baseball. Struggling against his ever-worsening physical condition, he added, "I intend to hold on as long as possible and then if the inevitable comes, I'll accept it philosophically and hope for the best. That's all we can do." The Parole Commission commended the ex-ballplayer for his "firm belief in parole, properly administered", stating that Gehrig "indicated he accepted the parole post because it represented an opportunity for public service. He had rejected other job offers – including lucrative speaking and guest appearance opportunities – worth far more financially than the $5,700 a year commissionership." Gehrig visited New York City's correctional facilities, but insisted that they not be covered by news media. Gehrig, as always, quietly and efficiently performed his duties. He was often helped by his wife Eleanor, who would guide his hand when he'd to sign official documents. About a month before his death, when Gehrig reached the point where his deteriorating physical condition made it impossible for him to continue in the job, he quietly resigned.
   On June 2, 1941, at 10:10 p.m., sixteen years to the day after he replaced Wally Pipp at first base, Henry Louis Gehrig died at his home at 5204 Delafield Avenue, in the Fieldston section of the Bronx, New York.
   Upon hearing the news, Babe Ruth and his wife Claire went to the Gehrig's house to console Eleanor. Mayor LaGuardia ordered flags in New York to be flown at half-staff, and Major League ballparks around the nation did likewise.
   Following the funeral at Christ Episcopal Church of Riverdale, Gehrig's remains were cremated and interred on June 4 at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. Lou Gehrig and Ed Barrow are both interred in the same section of Kensico Cemetery, which is next door to Gate of Heaven Cemetery, where the graves of Babe Ruth and Billy Martin are located. Eleanor Gehrig never remarried following her husband's passing, dedicating the rest of her life to supporting ALS research. |- style="background: #DDFFDD;" ! Accomplishment ! Record |- | align=center|Grand Slams | align=center|23 |- | align=center|Runs batted in (RBI) by a First Baseman | align=center|1,995 |- | align=center|Consecutive seasons, 120+ RBIs | align=center|8 (1927–1934 |- | align=center|Runs scored by a first baseman | align=center|1,888 |- | align=center|Highest on-base percentage by a first baseman | align=center|.447 |- | align=center|Most bases on balls by a first baseman | align=center|1,508 |- | align=center|Highest slugging percentage by a first baseman | align=center|.632 |- | align=center|Most extra base hits by a first baseman | align=center|1190 |- |} Major League Baseball (MLB) Single Season Records>

Major League Baseball (MLB) Single Game Records>

Other distinctions
Other distinctions>

Accomplishment Year

Triple Crown (.363 BA, 49 HR, 165 RBI) 1934

Only player in history to collect 400 total bases in five seasons 1927, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1936

With Stan Musial, one of two players to collect at least 500 doubles, 150 triples, and 400 home runs in a career –

One of only six players (Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, and Ted Williams were the others) to end their career with a minimum .320 batting average, 350 home runs, and 1,500 RBI. –

Only player to hit 40 doubles and 40 home runs in the same season non-consecutively 1927, 1930, 1934

Scored game-winning run in 8 World Series games –

First athlete ever to appear on a box of Wheaties –

First baseball player to have his uniform number retired July 4, 1939 farewell speech was voted by fans as the fifth greatest moment in Major League Baseball history in 2002 July 4, 1939

A Lou Gehrig 25-cent USA Postage Stamp was issued by the U.S. Postal Service (Scott number 2417) 1989

Gehrig was mentioned in the poem "Lineup for Yesterday" by Ogden Nash:
–

Film and other media
Lou Gehrig starred in the 1938 20th Century Fox movie Rawhide playing himself in his only feature film appearance. In 2006, researchers presented a paper to the American Academy of Neurology, reporting on an analysis of Rawhide and photographs of Lou Gehrig from the 1937–1939 period, to ascertain when Gehrig began to show visible symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. They concluded that while atrophy of hand muscles could be detected in 1939 photographs of Gehrig, no such abnormality was visible at the time Rawhide was made in January 1938. "Examination of Rawhide showed that Gehrig functioned normally in January 1938", the report concluded.
   In 1942, the life of Lou Gehrig was immortalized in the movie The Pride of the Yankees, starring Gary Cooper as Gehrig and Teresa Wright as his wife Eleanor. It received 11 Academy Award nominations and won in one category, Film Editing. Real-life Yankees Babe Ruth, Bob Meusel, Mark Koenig and Bill Dickey (then still an active player) played themselves, as did sportscaster Bill Stern.
   Later, in 1978, a TV movie, A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story was released, starring Blythe Danner and Edward Herrmann as Eleanor and Lou Gehrig, respectively. It was based on the 1976 autobiography My Luke and I, written by Eleanor Gehrig and Joseph Durso.
   In an episode of the PBS series Jean Shepherd's America, the Chicago-born storyteller told of how he and his father (Jean Shepherd, Sr.) would watch Chicago White Sox games from the right field upper deck at Comiskey Park in the 1930s. On one occasion, the Sox were playing the Yankees, and Shepherd Sr. had been taunting Gehrig, yelling at him all day. In the top of the ninth, with Sox icon Ted Lyons holding a slim lead, Gehrig came up with a man on base, and Jean Jr.'s "old man" yelled in a voice that echoed around the ballpark, "Hit one up here, ya bum! I dare ya!" Gehrig did exactly that, hitting a screaming liner, practically into the senior Shepherd's lap, for the eventual game-winning home run. Shepherd's father was booed mercilessly, and he never again took junior Jean to a game. He apparently told this story originally when Gehrig's widow was in the audience at a speaking engagement.

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