Position:
First Base
Teams:
New York Yankees (1923-1939)
Career Statistics:
Batting Average: .340
Home Runs: 493
RBI: 1,995
Slugging Percentage: .632
On-Base Percentage: .447
Hits: 2,721
Henry Louis Gehrig was born in Manhattan to German immigrants. He first attracted attention for his athletic abilities at Cubs Park (now Wrigley Field) on June 26, 1920. His team, New York School of Commerce, was playing Lane Tech High School of Chicago. In the top of the ninth inning, with his team ahead 8-6, Gehrig crushed a grand slam that completely left the major league park. He was 17 years old.
After graduating high school in 1921, Gehrig attended Columbia University for two years. Though he was unaware of it at the team, he had rendered himself ineligible to play baseball for the university because he had played for a professional summer league during his freshman year. He was, however, allowed to play football and became an exemplary fullback. He later regained his baseball eligibility and played that sport as well.
On April 18, 1923, Gehrig struck out seventeen hitters from Williams College, though his Columbia team ended up losing the game. Yankees scout, Paul Krichell attended this game, though he was more impressed with Gehrig's powerful swing than his pitching prowess. He had once hit a 450-foot home run at Columbia's South Field which ended up on 116th Street and Broadway. Two months later, Gehrig signed a contract to play with the New York Yankees.
He joined the Yanks midway through the 1923 season, debuting on June 15 as a pinch hitter. He remained primarily a pinch hitter for his first two seasons. He played in only 23 games and was not added to the 1923 World Series roster. In 1925, he batted .295 with 20 home runs and 68 RBI.
However, in 1926, Gehrig began to show his true potential. He batted .313 with 47 doubles, 20 triples, 16 homers, and 112 RBI. During the World Series that year, he pounded the St. Louis Cardinals, hitting .348 with two doubles, and four RBI. The Cardinals ended up winning the Series 4-3.
In 1927, Gehrig put up batting numbers that were some of the greatest in the history of the game. He batted .373 with 218 hits: 52 doubles, 18 triples, 47 homers, 175 RBI (a record, until Hack Wilson drove in 190 runs in 1930), and a .765 slugging percentage. His Yankees ended up defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates that year in the World Series. Gehrig was named MVP that season, though his accomplishment was overshadowed by Babe Ruth's (his teammate) record-setting 60 home runs. The Yankees lineup at this time is still considered one of the greatest ever, and is known by the sinister nickname "Murderer's Row."
Gehrig often found himself living in the shadow of the larger-than-life Babe Ruth, though the numbers he put up were beyond impressive. He had 509 RBI during a three-year stretch (1930-1932). Only Jimmie Foxx and Hank Greenberg have ever batted in over 500 runners over three seasons, though their accomplishments took place over non-consecutive seasons. He hit over .350 or better during six seasons, and seven seasons with 150 RBI or more, 11 seasons with over 100 walks, eight seasons with 200 or more hits, and five seasons with over 40 homers.
One of the major accomplishments Lou Gehrig is renowned for is his 2,130 consecutive games played (a record which Cal Ripken, Jr. broke on September 6, 1995), for which he was nicknamed "The Iron Horse." He played through pain and terrible injuries on many occasions, such as getting hit in the head by a Washington Senators pitcher and suffering through a terrible bout of back pain (which many believe may have been an early symptom of the disease which would later claim his life). Additionally, x-rays taken later in his life showed that every one of the fingers on each of his hands had been broken at some point during his playing career, injuries that he had continued to play through. On the other hand, Yankees general manager, Ed Barrow, once postponed a game because of rain, even though it was not raining, all because Gehrig had the flu and would not be able to compete.
Mid-way through the 1938 season, Gehrig reported some physical changes. He said, "I tired mid-season. I don't know why, but I just couldn't get going again." Though his stats from that season were still impressive, they had dropped considerably from 1937. When the Yanks began spring training in 1939, it was clear something was seriously wrong with Gehrig. His base running was affected, and at one point he collapsed at the Yankees spring training park. He did not hit a single home run the entire pre-season. By the end of April, his stats were the worst of his career, and it was obvious his coordination was off. He was only batting .143 with one RBI. He was still making contact with the ball, but his legendary power seemed to have disappeared seemingly overnight. On May 2, Gehrig approached manager Joe McCarthy and said that he was benching himself for the good of the team. He stayed with the Yankees as the team captain for the remainder of the season, but he would never play a major league game again.
As his symptoms becamse increasingly worse, Gehrig's wife contacted the Mayo Clinic and she was told to bring him in immediately. They arrived on June 13, 1939. After a rigorous battery of tests, Gehrig was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which causes rapidly progressing paralysis, as well as difficulty speaking and swallowing. The life expectancy was about three years.
The Yankees announced Gehrig's retirement on June 21 and proclaimed July 4 "Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day." Between games of the Yankees's double header against the Washington Senators, a ceremony was held for Lou Gehrig. Dignitaries and members of the 1927 Yankees World Championship Team (including Babe Ruth) attended. Gehrig's number "4" was retired by the Yankees, the first Major League Baseball player to ever be awarded such an honor. Footage of the ceremony shows many gifts being handed to Gehrig, though he had to immediately sit them down as he didn't have the arm strength to hold them. After tearful speeches by manager, Joe McCarthy and former teammate, Babe Ruth, Gehrig stepped up to the mike and delivered one of the most famous speeches in sports history:
"Fans, for the past two weeks you've been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from 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 consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert (owner of the Yankees)? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow (manager of the Yankees)? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins (teammate of Gehrig)? 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 white coats remember you with trophies - that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter - 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 - it's 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 in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for. Thank you."
Lou Gehrig received a two minute standing ovation. Afterward, Babe Ruth came over and hugged him as the band played "I Love You Truly." Gehrig was unanimously elected to the Hall of Fame in 1939, at the age of 36.
In October 1939, Gehrig accepted Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia's offer of a ten-year term as New York City Parole Commissioner. As on the baseball field, Gehrig efficiently performed his duties. When official documents had to be signed, his wife guided his hand. About a month before his death, his condition had deteriorated to a point where he was forced to resign his position.
On June 2, 1941, two years after his retirement from baseball, Lou Gehrig died at his home in The Bronx.
Lou Gehrig (l) being embraced by former teammate Babe Ruth after his farewell ceremony.
No comments:
Post a Comment