Gehrig, Heinrich Ludwig "Lou" 1903-1941

GEHRIG, HEINRICH LUDWIG "LOU" 1903-1941

Baseballs iron horse

Disaster

Lou Gehrig, the New York Yankees first baseman nicknamed "the Iron Horse," on 2 May 1939 took himself out of the Yankees lineup and thereby ended his record for playing in consecutive games at 2,130 (he had broken the old record of 1,307 consecutive games in August 1934). His record had begun on 1 June 1925 when he was sent in to pinch-hit for shortstop Pee Wee Wanninger. The next day Gehrig replaced Wally Pipp, the starting Yankee first baseman, who had complained of a headache. Pipp never returned to the Yankees' first base, for Gehrig did not relinquish the position until May 1939 when his batting average had dropped to .143 and he told manager Joe McCarthy that he was hurting the team. He could not easily perform such ordinary tasks as tying his shoes or sitting in a chair or stepping off a curb. Just over a month later he learned that he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable form of paralysis that attacks the central nervous system. He was thirty-six years old, had completed his thirteenth full season as a Major League Baseball player, and had two years to live. The news of his affliction stunned the sports world.

Triumph

On 4 July 1939 the Yankees held an official Lou Gehrig Day at which 61,808 fans listened to Gehrig deliver a farewell speech to baseball, particularly to his 1927 Yankee teammates, including Babe Ruth, who were specially invited guests. In what has been called the Gettysburg Address of baseball, Gehrig said: "They say I have had a bad break, but when the office force and the ground keepers and even the Giants from across the river, whom we'd give our right arm to beat in the World Series—when they remember you, that's something.… I may have been given a bad break, but I have an awful lot to live for. With all this, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth." His teammates gave him a silver trophy at the base of which was inscribed John Kieran's poem "To Lou Gehrig," written at the request of the players and followed by their signatures. Soon there-after, sportswriters and baseball officials unanimously elected Gehrig to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Records

Though Babe Ruth eclipsed him throughout their Yankee careers, Gehrig amassed his own distinctive records. His mark of 2,130 consecutive games played stood for fifty-six years until Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles surpassed it on 6 September 1995. Batting cleanup after Ruth, Gehrig became a key member of the powerful lineup of batters that a New York cartoonist had earlier named "Murderer's Row." He led the American League in runs batted in five times, was named the American League's Most Valuable Player four times, won the home-run crown three times, and in 1931 set the alltime Major League record of 184 RBIs. He played in a total of thirty-four World Series games, achieving a Series batting average of .361, with 8 doubles, 3 triples, 10 home runs, 30 runs scored, and 35 runs batted in.

Early Life and Career

Born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig in New York City to German immigrant parents, Gehrig grew up in the Yorkville and Washington Heights areas of Manhattan. He was a member of the Commerce High School baseball team that won the 1920 national highschool championship. His play drew attention from college and professional baseball scouts, and he won an athletic scholarship to Columbia University, where he became a pitching ace and alternated at first base and in the outfield. After a brief stint with a New York Giants minor-league club, he was signed in 1923 by the Yankees to a $3,500 midseason contract. Because he struggled as a fielder, the Yankees soon sent him to their minor-league team in Hartford, Connecticut, where his confidence and skills improved significantly. Between summer 1923 and fall 1924 he divided his time between Hartford and New York, rejoining the Yankees permanently in September 1924. Breaking into the powerful Yankee lineup seemed to Gehrig an especially daunting task but one he achieved in June 1925 when, as a replacement of Pipp at first base, he hit two singles and a double in his first three at bats, scored one run, had eight putouts and one assist, and helped the Yankees end a losing streak.

The 1927 Yankees

The 1926 team, with a lineup including Babe Ruth and Gehrig—who came to be known as the Home-Run Twins—started the legendary dynasty that reached its zenith with the 1927 Yankees, regarded as the best team in the history of baseball. Their record of 110 wins in 154 games stood for twenty-seven years. During this season, in which Ruth hit his sixty home runs, Gehrig came also into his full maturity as a player. He was the new Yankee star while Ruth was the seasoned veteran who asserted his dominance at the plate. Until 10 August, Gehrig was three home runs ahead of Ruth, with thirty-eight to Ruth's thirty-five, but after that day, Gehrig hit only nine home runs while Ruth had twenty-five. This intrateam home-run rivalry created a box-office draw for the Yankees. Ruth set the home-run record, and Gehrig received the Most Valuable Player award that season. Almost as an afterthought the Yankees defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in a four-game sweep of the World Series.

The 1928 World Series

In 1928 Gehrig enjoyed another outstanding year, with 142 RBIs and a .374 average, though his home-run total dropped to 27, which was still good enough to place him second in the league to Ruth. The Yankees won the pennant and defeated the Saint Louis Cardinals in four straight games. In this Series Gehrig and Ruth exhibited amazing power hitting, Gehrig averaging .545 and Ruth .625, records that still stand for averages achieved in World Series play. The two men were opposites in personality: Gehrig was businesslike, reserved, and modest, while Ruth was legendary for his late-night carousing and headline making. Yet they were friends, often hunting and fishing together, except for a brief period in the 1930s when they were not on speaking terms.

The 1930s

In the 1930s Gehrig's career burgeoned. In 1931 he won his fourth consecutive RBI title; on 3 June 1932 he became the first American League player to hit four home runs in a game; in July 1933 he was chosen to play in the first All-Star Game; in 1934 he won the American League's Triple Crown for the best batting average (.363), the most home runs (49), and the most runs batted in (165) and was named the American League's Most Valuable Player; and in 1936 he won his third home-run crown and was again named the American League's Most Valuable Player. In 1938 he signed a contract for $39,000, his highest salary in baseball.

Decline

In 1939 he took a $4,000 pay cut, for he was beginning to show evidence of a decline in power and skills. As early as 13 July 1934, while running to first base after hitting a single, he suddenly doubled over, nearly falling but reaching the bag safely. For some time he had difficulty straightening up; he thought he had caught a cold in his back. These were the first obvious symptoms of the disease that would kill him seven years later. That he achieved many of his greatest baseball successes while enduring the early stages of ALS is a testament to his physical strength and desire to play. Gehrig died on 2 June 1941, sixteen years after his first appearance as a Yankee first baseman.

Sources:

Frank Graham, Lou Gehrig: A Quiet Hero (New York: Putnam, 1942);

Norman L. Macht, Lou Gehrig (New York: Chelsea House, 1993).