Who was Lou Gehrig, anyway?

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Who was Lou Gehrig, anyway?"

Oswin Fitzgerald
6 years ago
Views:

1 D. Gary Benfield, M.D. By now, most of us are familiar with some version of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and the important role it is playing in increasing ALS awareness and raising money for ALS research. ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) is an often fatal motor neuron disease that leaves its victims with gradually weakening muscles until they become paralyzed while cognitive function remains intact. I say often fatal only because exceptions do exist, like the case of Stephen Hawking. The 72-year-old, worldrenowned physicist and cosmologist was diagnosed with ALS after he turned 21in Hawking is almost entirely paralyzed and communicates through a speech generating device. He has been married and divorced twice and has three grown children. ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig s Disease, named after the former New York Yankee first baseman whose consecutive-games-played streak and career was cut short by ALS. Now for the rest of Lou Gehrig s story. Lou Gehrig was born on June 19, 1903 in the East Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, weighing almost 14 pounds. He was the second child of four children born to Christina, his German immigrant mother. His father, Heinrich, was a sheet metal worker by trade. But he was frequently unemployed because he was a

2 chronic alcoholic. Gehrig s mother was a maid and main breadwinner for the family. One of Gehrig s two sisters died of whooping cough at an early age. The other sister died of measles. His only brother died in infancy from an unknown cause. Let me repeat the sad statement about his sisters for those who might refuse immunizations for their children. One of Gehrig s two sisters died of whooping cough at an early age. The other sister died of measles. After graduating from high school, Gehrig attended Columbia University on a football scholarship while preparing for a degree in engineering. But on April 18, 1923, the same day that Yankee Stadium opened for the first time and Babe Ruth hit a home run to mark the occasion, Columbia pitcher Lou Gehrig struck out 17 Williams College batters to set a team record in a losing cause. Fortunately for Gehrig, Yankee scout Paul Krichell was at the game. But Mr. Krichell was more interested in Gehrig s powerful left-handed hitting than his pitching ability. And within two months Gehrig had signed a contract with the Yankees. After playing parts of two seasons for Hartford in the minor leagues, Gehrig was promoted to the Yankees where he started his famous continuous game streak in a pinch-hit appearance on June 1, The following day manager Miller Huggins inserted 22-year-old Gehrig into the starting lineup. After the young slugger rapped out three hits that day, he played 14 years and 2,130 consecutive games before another Yankee played first base regularly. 2

3 Lou Gehrig kept his continuous game streak going when most ball players would have rested. In an exhibition game at the end of June in 1934, Gehrig suffered a concussion when he was beaned by a wild pitch. But he was back in the lineup the next day, alert enough to bang out three triples before heavy rains wiped the game out altogether. Later in his career Gehrig s hands were x-rayed. The doctors spotted 17 different fractures that had healed while Gehrig continued to play. Even Gehrig s wedding wasn t enough to keep him out of the lineup. On September 29, 1933, Gehrig married his fiancé Eleanor in the New York suburb of New Rochelle. A few hours later, he played all nine innings of an 8 to 5 loss to the Senators. After struggling to four hits in 28 times at bat in the first eight games of the 1939 season, a tired and frustrated Gehrig finally gave in and took himself out of the lineup. His consecutive streak of 2,130 games played had ended. A few weeks later, doctors at the Mayo Clinic diagnosed Gehrig with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS. On July 4, 1939 the Yankees held a recognition day to honor Gehrig. More than 62,000 fans filled the stands as Gehrig stood on the field at Yankee Stadium with the 1927 and 1939 Yankees. 3

4 Gehrig stood before the battery of microphones as the stadium went quiet. Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got, Gehrig began. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for 17 years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans. Gehrig acknowledged the great men he had played for and known. He even acknowledged his wonderful mother-in-law for taking sides with him in squabbles with her own daughter. He praised his parents and his wife, who had been a tower of strength and shown more courage than he had ever dreamed existed. Then he closed with this: So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I ve got an awful lot to live for. Lou Gehrig died on June 2, 1941, 17 days shy of his 38 th birthday, and the country mourned. He was remembered as one of the most talented baseball players of all time. More than that, he was remembered for his kind heart and winning attitude. Further thoughts: Lou Gehrig finished with a career batting average of.340. He hit 493 home runs and had 1,995 runs batted in. A seven-time All Star and sixtime World Series Champion, Gehrig won the Triple Crown in 1934 (highest batting average, most home runs, and most runs batted in). He was twice named the American League s Most Valuable player. Gehrig was the first major league baseball player to have his uniform number (#4) retired. He was elected to the 4

5 Baseball Hall of Fame in His record of 2,130 consecutive games played stood for 56 years until surpassed by Cal Ripken, Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles in Gehrig was voted the greatest first baseman of all time by the Baseball Writers Association in A monument in Gehrig s honor was dedicated by the Yankees in And that sums up Lou Gehrig s story Gary Benfield 5

5GRADE Informational/ Explanatory Genre

5GRADE Informational/ Explanatory Genre All items contained in this Assesslet are the property of the Georgia Center for Assessment. Items may be used for formative purposes by the customer within their