Henry Louis ("Lou") Gehrig (June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941), born Ludwig Heinrich Gehrig, was an American baseball player in the first half of the twentieth century. He set several Major League and American League records and was voted the greatest first baseman of all time by the Baseball Writers' Association. His record for most career grand slam home runs (23) still stands today. 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.
Gehrig was known as "The Iron Horse" for his durability. Over a 15-season span between 1925 and 1939, 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, 1995. Ripken would go on to play in a total of 2,632 consecutive games through September 20, 1998, setting the current record.
Gehrig accumulated 1,995 RBI 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 was not until 1933; he did not 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 1927 and 1936 and was a Triple Crown winner in 1934, leading the American League in batting average, home runs, and RBI.
His popularity with fans endures to this day, as is evidenced by him being one of the leading vote-getters on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, chosen in 1999.
Lou Gehrig was born in the Yorkville section of Manhattan, the son of poor German immigrants Heinrich Gehrig and Christina Fack. His father worked as a janitor (although his occupation is listed as "iron worker" in the 1920 U.S. Census) but was frequently unemployed because of epilepsy, so his mother was the breadwinner and disciplinarian. Both parents considered baseball to be a schoolyard game; his domineering mother steered young Lou toward a career in architecture because an uncle in Germany was a financially successful architect.
Gehrig joined the Yankees midway through the 1923 season and made his debut on June 15, 1923, as a pinch hitter. In his first two seasons, Gehrig saw limited playing time, mostly as a pinch hitter — he played in only 23 games and was not on the Yankees' 1923 World Series roster. In 1925, he batted 437 times for a very respectable .295 batting average with 20 home runs and 68 RBIs.
Gehrig's breakout season came in 1926. He batted .313 with 47 doubles, an American League leading 20 triples, 16 home runs, and 112 RBIs. In the 1926 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Gehrig hit .348 with two doubles and 4 RBI's. The Cardinals won a seven-game series, winning four games to three.
In 1927, Gehrig put up one of the greatest seasons by any batter in history. That year, Gehrig hit .373, with 218 hits: 52 doubles, 20 triples, 47 home runs, 175 runs batted in, and a .765 slugging percentage. His 117 extra-base hits that season are second all-time to Babe Ruth’s 119 extra base hits in 1921 and his 447 total bases are third all-time to Babe Ruth's 457 total bases in 1921 and Rogers Hornsby's 450 in 1922. Gehrig's great season helped the 1927 Yankees to a 110-44 record, the AL pennant, and a four-game sweep over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1927 World Series. Although the AL recognized his season by naming him league MVP, his season was overshadowed by Babe Ruth’s 60 home run season and the overall dominance of the 1927 Yankees, a team often cited as having the greatest lineup of all time — the famed Murderers' Row.
On June 21, the New York Yankees announced Gehrig's retirement and proclaimed July 4, 1939, "Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day" at Yankee Stadium. Between games of the Independence Day doubleheader against the Washington Senators, the poignant ceremonies were held on the diamond. In its coverage the following day, The New York Times said it was "Perhaps as colorful and dramatic a pageant as ever was enacted on a baseball field [as] 61,808 fans thundered a hail and farewell". 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."
