Lou Gehrig's Baseball Career

Lou Gehrig

When the name Lou Gehrig is heard, three things come to mind: baseball, record setting, and a crippling disease. Though his baseball career took place in the 1920s and 30s, Gehrig is still revered as a phenomenal player today. One of his records stood until very recently. Unfortunately, his livelihood in baseball came to a premature end when he encountered a “bad break” that was foreshadowing to a terrible nerve condition. Before that however, he lead an interesting life. Born Henry Louis Gehrig to German immigrant parents in June of 1903, Gehrig was the only one of their children to survive infancy. His mother wanted him to be well educated and have a good job when he grew up. “Throughout eight years of grade school,
He also became the first player to hit four homeruns in a single game. Yet another of his records was for the most grand slams. A grand slam is when all of the bases are loaded, have a player on them, and a homerun is hit making the score of the play four. Gehrig hit an astounding twenty-three of these, a record that still stands today. Perhaps most impressive of all was his record for consecutive games played in. He played in two-thousand one-hundred thirty games in a row in spite of more than a dozen hand fractures, intense back pain, and other injuries and ailments, thus earning his nickname, “The Iron Horse.” The only other person ever to break this particular record was Cal Ripken with two-thousand six-hundred thirty-two consecutive games. Gehrig’s record setting days came to an abrupt end,
He missed shots and his coordination slowed. Most thought it was due to his aging or because he pushed himself so hard. But, in 1939 after Gehrig had removed himself from the Yankee lineup, he thought that there was another problem. Finding easy tasks suddenly difficult and that he was always tired, he went to the Mayo Clinic and as diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This incurable disease directly affected the nervous system, gradually severing nerves from muscles and making them useless. This forced Gehrig to retire from his beloved sport and on the Fourth of July in 1939, Yankee Stadium was packed with a solemn crowd. That day a ceremony honoring Gehrig, who attended, was held. His disease had caused him to lose a substantial amount of weight and his old uniform hung loosely on him, but he delivered an incredibly moving and tear-inducing speech. In it, Gehrig thanked his teammates, wife, and parents, saying that he was, “The luckiest man on the face of the earth.” After his speech was finished, the crowd cheered and Babe Ruth gave him a hug. Shortly after his retirement, Gehrig was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Though the waiting period for induction was five years, this was waived because of Gehrig’s condition. As well as that, his jersey was retired by the Yankees. This made him the first athlete to ever have this done, and it started a tradition that remains