System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!Lou Gehrig, Baseball great
June 19, 1903 - June 02, 1941
Born Henry Louis Gehrig (The Iron Horse or Biscuit Pants) on June 19, 1903, in New York, New York, Gehrig was baseball’s Ironman until illness forced him to give up the game.
Lou Gehrig's accomplishments on the field made him an authentic hero, and his tragic early death made him a legend. A tireless worker with former record 2,130 consecutive games played (this record has since been broken by Cal Ripken, Jr.), Gehrig spent his whole career in New York, the nation's media capital. But it seemed that another teammate always got more headline attention-first Babe Ruth, then Joe DiMaggio.
The son of German immigrants, Gehrig was the only one of four children to survive. He was preparing to enter Columbia University when he was advised by Giants Manager John McGraw to play summer professional baseball under an assumed name ("Henry Lewis"). "Everyone does it," McGraw explained, even though the illegal ball playing could have jeopardized Gehrig's collegiate sports career. Gehrig was discovered after playing a dozen games for Hartford of the Eastern league. As a result, Gehrig was banned from intercollegiate sports during his freshman year, 1921-22.
Gehrig returned to sports to play fullback during Columbia's 1922 football season, and then pitched and played first for the Columbia Nine in 1923. Signed by Yankee scout Paul Krichell in 1923, Gehrig returned to Hartford and hit .304. Called up to the majors in September, he hit .423 in 26 at-bats. After a full season at Hartford, where Gehrig hit .369, he became a Yankee for good in 1925.
His lifetime batting average was .340, fifteenth all-time highest, and he amassed more than 400 total bases on five occasions. Only 13 men have achieved that level of power in a season. Ruth did it twice, and Chuck Klein did it three times. Gehrig is one of only seven players with more than 100 extra-base hits in one season, and only he and Klein accomplished the feat twice.
In his 13 full seasons, Lou Gehrig averaged 147 RBI's a year, from 1926 thru 1938. No other player was able to even reach the 147 RBI mark until George Foster of the Cincinnati Reds did so in 1977. In 1927, Gehrig had 175 RBI's, in 1930 he had 174 RBI's and in 1931 his 184 RBI's remains the second highest single season total in American League history. Gehrig drove in over 150 runs in a season seven times, over 170 three times.
Gehrig won the Triple Crown in 1934, with a .363 average, 49 homers, and 165 RBIs, and was chosen Most Valuable player in both 1927 and 1936. Despite his towering size, Gehrig stole home 15 times in his career, and he batted .361 in 34 World Series games with 10 homers, eight doubles, and 35 RBIs. He also holds the record for career grand slams at 23, he hit 73 three-run homers, and he hit 166 two-run shots, giving him the highest average of RBIs per homer of any player with more than 300 home runs.
Lou Gehrig hit 23 career grand slam home runs, a major league record, he hit 73 three-run homers and 166 two-run homers, giving him the highest average of RBI's per home run of anybody in history with more than 300 HR's. On June 3, 1932, Gehrig hit four home runs in a single game becoming the first American League player to accomplish this feat.
On June 3, 1932, Gehrig became the first American Leaguer to hit four home runs in a game.Gehrig's consecutive-game streak didn't come easily. He played every game for more than 13 years despite a broken thumb, a broken toe, and back spasms. Later in his career Gehrig's hands were X-rayed, and doctors were able to spot 17 different fractures that had "healed" while Gehrig continued to play. Despite having pain from lumbago one day, he was listed as the shortstop and leadoff hitter. He singled and was promptly replaced but kept the streak intact.
After batting .295 in 1925, Gehrig hit .313, the first of 12 consecutive years he would top .300, and led the league with 20 triples in 1926. The Yanks won the pennant; Gehrig hit .348 in the World Series, but the Yankees lost to Rogers Hornsby's Cardinals in seven games.
Gehrig won the Triple Crown in 1934, and led the American League in home runs, on-base, and slugging percentages in 1936, as the Yankees recaptured the title. For the next two years, DiMaggio and Gehrig would dominate the league the way Gehrig and Ruth had, and the Yankees began a four-season dynasty that included winning four World Series and losing only three games out of 19. In 1936, Gehrig led the league in home runs and runs scored.
In 1938, Gehrig fell below .300 for the first time since 1925, and it was clear that there was something wrong. He lacked his usual strength. Pitches he would have hit for home runs were only flyouts. Doctors diagnosed a gall bladder problem, and they put him on a bland diet, which only made him weaker. Gehrig played the first eight games of the 1939 season, but he managed only four hits. On a ball hit back to pitcher Johnny Murphy, Gehrig had trouble getting to first in time for the throw. When he returned to the dugout, he took himself out of the game.
The next day, as Yankee captain, he took the lineup card to the umpires, as usual, but his name was not on the roster. Babe Dahlgren was stationed at first. The game announcer intoned, "Ladies and gentlemen, Lou Gehrig's consecutive streak of 2,130 games played has ended." Doctors at the Mayo Clinic diagnosed Gehrig as having a very rare form of degenerative disease: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (now commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease). There was no chance he would ever play baseball again.
New York writer Paul Gallico suggested the team have a recognition day to honour Gehrig on July 4, 1939. On July 4th, 1939 the Yankee organization held "Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day." With more than 62,000 fans in attendance, Gehrig spoke his immortal words of thanks. He was also presented with various awards and his number 4 was retired, the first player ever to have his number retired. The following December, he was unanimously elected into the Hall of Fame. The Baseball Writers Association waived the existing rule which required a player to be retired one year before he could be elected. He worked on youth projects for New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia until he was unable to walk.
Lou Gehrig died on June 2, 1941 in Riverdale, NY in 1941, at the age of 37.
