Lou Gehrig

Henry Louis Gehrig played 2,130 consecutive games for the New York Yankees between June 1, 1925, and April 30, 1939. That streak earned him the nickname "The Iron Horse," but the nickname understates what Gehrig did during those games. He was not simply present. He was one of the most productive hitters in baseball history, a first baseman who drove in 100 or more runs in thirteen consecutive seasons and whose career numbers stand alongside anyone who ever played the position.

Columbia to the Bronx

Gehrig was born in New York City to German immigrant parents. His father was frequently unemployed, and his mother worked as a cook and housekeeper at Columbia University. Gehrig attended Columbia on a football scholarship but also played baseball. Yankees scout Paul Krichell watched Gehrig hit a ball out of Columbia's South Field in 1923 and signed him immediately. Gehrig spent parts of two seasons in the minors and on the Yankees' bench before Wally Pipp, the starting first baseman, sat out a game with a headache on June 1, 1925. Gehrig took his place and did not leave the lineup for fourteen years.

The Numbers

Gehrig's career batting average was .340. He hit 493 home runs. He drove in 1,995 runs in only 2,164 games, a rate of production that no one has matched. His 184 RBI in 1931 remain the American League record. He won the Triple Crown in 1934, hitting .363 with 49 home runs and 166 RBI. He won two MVP awards and finished in the top five of MVP voting seven other times.

For most of his career, Gehrig batted behind Babe Ruth, which meant pitchers had to pitch to him or face Ruth with runners on base. Gehrig made them pay either way. His .632 slugging percentage ranks fifth in history. His 23 career grand slams stood as the all-time record until Alex Rodriguez broke it in 2013. In the 1928 World Series, Gehrig hit .545 with four home runs as the Yankees swept the Cardinals.

He played in the shadow of Ruth and never seemed to mind. Ruth was the personality. Gehrig was the professional. Sportswriters called him "the quiet man in the loud lineup," and the description was accurate without being complete. Gehrig was quiet in public and relentless in the batter's box.

The Streak Ends

By the spring of 1939, something was wrong. Gehrig's batting average had dropped to .295 in 1938, still respectable for most players but alarming for him. In early 1939, he could barely swing the bat. His fielding deteriorated. Teammates noticed that simple physical tasks, buttoning a shirt, tying a shoe, had become difficult for him.

On May 2, 1939, before a game in Detroit, Gehrig told manager Joe McCarthy to take him out of the lineup. The consecutive-game streak ended at 2,130. Gehrig never played again.

Doctors at the Mayo Clinic diagnosed him with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative disease that destroys motor neurons and has no cure. He was 36 years old.

The Luckiest Man

On July 4, 1939, the Yankees held Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium. The crowd of 61,808 included his former teammates, his current teammates, and his family. Gehrig, visibly weakened, stepped to the microphone and delivered a speech that has become one of the most famous in American public life.

"Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth," he said. He thanked his teammates, the opposing players who had sent a gift, the stadium groundskeepers, and his parents. He did not mention his diagnosis or his prognosis. Ruth, standing nearby, hugged him. The crowd wept.

The Yankees retired his number 4 that day, the first number retired in major league history. The Hall of Fame waived its five-year waiting period and inducted Gehrig in December 1939. He died on June 2, 1941, at age 37. The disease that killed him now bears his name in common usage, a tribute he would not have wanted and could not have escaped.