Be sure to keep the arms free from the body, back, and ready to hit. He was the iron horse. General opinion is that Gehrig was the greatest first baseman in the history of the major leagues. He was the toughest hitter for me to pitch to. When he hit a ball, it it was just like a golf ball. Gehrig had a fierce combative spirit.
Lou Gehrig was my hero. He set a real example for me. He set the standard for not only first baseman, but for professional athletes. Gehrig was the image to me of New York Yankee power. For the past 2 weeks you’ve been reading about a bad break. Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.
But being lucky probably never entered the mind of Henry Louis Gehrig when he was a child. He grew up alone, somewhat isolated, in a predominantly poor section of Manhattan called Yorkville. Lou Gehrig was an only child. His parents were German-speaking immigrants. They didn’t know anything about baseball.
His mother was working as a cook at a fraternity house at Columbia University, and his father had various jobs as a maintenance man, as a janitor. And uh there was never much money. But there was time to play baseball, and Lou became quite good at it while playing for Commerce High School in Manhattan. Columbia University took notice, but for another reason.
There was a director of athletics at Columbia named Bobby Watt who had been watching Lou, but as a football player. Indeed, Gehrig was a star fullback and linebacker for the Commerce squad. Still, it was baseball that first brought Lou notoriety. There was an intercity championship game between the New York City entrant, which was Commerce, and a Chicago high school entrant.
And Lou hit a home run with the bases loaded them in the ninth inning. And Lou’s name was carried in the New York newspapers, and of course in the Chicago newspapers, and in many of the papers his name was misspelled. But that was the first time his name probably had ever appeared in the national press. And at that point the Columbia coaches just simply began drooling at the prospect of getting a player of of Gehrig’s caliber for both football and for baseball.
So, like his mother, Lou set off for Columbia on a daily basis. It wasn’t long before his exploits on the diamond became the stuff of legends. For his prodigious home runs were gaining a most prestigious reputation. The longest home run was hit through the window of the journalism school, and a journalism professor picked the ball up, threw it out the window assuming the two people were playing catch down below because he couldn’t imagine a ball hit that far from home plate.
With bat in hand, Lou had no problems. But he wasn’t quite as smooth when it came to life off the field. Lou was innately shy and very insecure because of his background. And he felt a kind of snobbery from some of the others at Columbia, and I think he resented it. So, he did not feel altogether comfortable uh in his his two years at Columbia.
But any problems Gehrig might have had disappeared once he put on the uniform. He hit home runs, lots of them, and one against a New York rival caught the attention of some very important people. Two New York Yankee scouts, Paul Krichell and a scout named Bob Connery, were in the stands.
They were playing NYU, and Gehrig hit a home run farther than anybody ever seen a ball hit in that ballpark. The Yankee scouts said to each other, “What are we waiting for?” So, they signed him. Lou’s mother was not happy about this. Uh she wanted something more for him than being a baseball player, which didn’t mean anything to them.
But, they needed the money. Still, Lou had to call upon his humble beginnings to help him survive his first spring training with the Yankees. They didn’t get paid in spring training in those days. So, here he is 6 weeks in New Orleans, he has $14 in his pocket. Fortunately, Yankee skipper Miller Huggins noticed that the new kid in camp wasn’t socializing with the rest of the Yankees.
Once he discovered the problem, Huggins took steps to solve it. While the other players, the veterans, were out having a good time, he walked around pretty much alone. And when Miller Huggins was tipped off to this situation, he gave him a little pocket money to to see him through.
With a hole in his pocket now fixed, Lou concentrated on his game. Two years in the minor leagues at Hartford were enough. Lou wanted to be a Yankee. When he he first joined the ball club, he could hardly catch a ball. He spent hours and hours at first base and became a very adequate first baseman. The cleanup man, Lou Gehrig, a young slugger just coming into his own.
When he came up, he was a strong man and he could swing that bat really good. And once he got into professional baseball, he changed fast. And he became one of the great hitters in the league. When Lou finally made the Yankees in 1925, he made a strong, silent, and likable impression in the clubhouse.
He was a a New Yorker, but he was quiet. And he was shy. Gehrig wasn’t a very talkative fellow. Lou was a very quiet person. And uh very soft-spoken and kind of a high voice. Be sure to keep the arms free from the body back and ready to hit. Gehrig was hard fellow to know. You didn’t just walk in and meet Gehrig.
Gehrig was very quiet, self-contained guy. Very quiet chap. Very likable. Nice grin. Dimpled cheeks. Anything good you can say about Gehrig? I’ll say to you He was the nicest person. Lou was a He was just a nice fellow anywhere you took him and then I enjoyed him a whole lot.
Lou was one of three rookies on the ’25 Yankees team and it was no surprise that these birds of a feather flocked together. He and Earl Combs and myself were the three rookies, the only three rookies there. You know, so naturally we were kind of friendly and uh Lou also became quite friendly with first baseman Wally Pipp who went out of his way to help Lou with his defense.
Of course, the name Wally Pipp would soon be forever linked with Gehrig. Pipp had been beaned and that put Pipp out of the lineup and Lou filled in for him and that of course started his extraordinary streak. Lou played in 126 games his first full year and hit .295 with 20 home runs. For this humble son of German immigrants, it was just a glimpse of the greatness that was still to come.
Next on Yankeeography. The other teams used to come out and watch them because they were such big guys and hit for such a distance. They were two great hitters. They were the one-two punch. In 1927, Lou Gehrig emerged as one of the game’s great sluggers. Gehrig had a fierce combative spirit.
When he went up there to hit, uh he had one purpose to knock the hell out the ball. He swung a 46-oz piece of lumber. And he did so at the heart of perhaps the most menacing lineup of all time. They had Gehrig and Ruth and Lazzeri and Meusel and Combs. This rare assemblage of talent was called Murderers’ Row.
In 1927, the name uh Murderers’ Row was put on them by the sports writers. Those fellows all batted over 300 and hit for distance. Imagine being a pitcher from that era, knowing that you had to face both Gehrig and Ruth back-to-back. Ruth hit third. Gehrig hit fourth. They were two great hitters.
And it was a one-two punch. But though Lou was a star on the rise, he remained obscured by the Sultan of Swat. While Ruth drew all the attention, another Yankee was also playing wondrously for the fans at Yankee Stadium. His name was Lou Gehrig. He was in the shadow of Ruth, so he was always second fiddle to Ruth.
And certainly his power paled in comparison, although in ’27 he was neck and neck with Ruth going into the 1st of September. Gehrig and Ruth waged a classic home run race that year. Lou had more than double his first year output and finished with 47. But, in the process, he pushed the Babe to record-setting heights, and helped the Yankees set a league record for wins.
The Yankees in 1927 won more games than any team had ever won prior to that time. So mighty were their bats, so intimidating were the ’27 Yankees, they didn’t even have to play the game. The other teams used to come out and watch them because they were such big guys and hit for such distance.
That was about half the advantage that they had in their favor. When they met Pittsburgh in the World Series, it seemed as if the Pirates were awed into defeat. When the Pittsburgh Pirates were sitting in the stands and watching all of balls to go out of the park with Gehrig and Ruth, I think it it beat them right there.
These Yankees brought championship honor and glory to Yankee Stadium and to all of New York. The carnage continued in 1928. And the dynamic duo’s power display didn’t miss a beat. Gehrig would finish with a league-high 142 RBIs in ’28, and help lead the Yankees to another World Series title.
But, he was resigned to the fact he was always going to play second fiddle to Ruth. Here’s how Gehrig saw it. I’m not a headline guy. I knew that as long as I was following Ruth to the plate, I could have stood on my head and no one would have known the difference. By 1931, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth had established themselves as equals in the Yankees superstar-laden lineup.
But, an off-season tour of Japan proved once again that even though they shared the power when the games were underway, the two men were still as different as night and day. In Japan, it was all Babe Ruth. Thousands of Japanese fans thronged the streets, followed Ruth everywhere. Babe was the conductor.
Lou was just along for the ride. That’s how it seemed even to those who now look back on those days with an historic perspective. Lou Gehrig had to feel some kind of insignificance because of all the attention Babe Ruth got. Even Gehrig’s American League record of 184 RBIs in 1931 couldn’t compete with the presence of Ruth.
Stop! Stop! Babe was very gregarious and a happy-go-lucky guy and was always laughing and joking around with him. What do you mean keeping these boys in there when there’s baseball to be played? By arithmetic. Arithmetic? Four times four is 16. Yeah. Three strikes you’re out. Lou was very quiet and pretty serious all the time.
A very common fault is keeping the arms too close to the body. I will give every effort to better my record of last year and I sincerely hope we can win the pennant for the Yankees this year. But Lou did have his fans. For though Ruth was revered for his jolly persona, Gehrig for many represented the common blue-collar man.
You knew you were never going to be able to emulate Babe Ruth. You believed that you could emulate Lou Gehrig. Perhaps the best example of Ruth grabbing center stage took place in the 1932 World Series against Chicago when Babe allegedly called his shot before hitting a home run. What’s not so widely known is what happened next.
Lou stepped up right after Babe hit the called shot, if it was a called shot, and hit a home run. And nobody remembers it. Gehrig always played a subsidiary role. Ruth always had the flair for showmanship. Gehrig was just a uh day-by-day performer. But not even Babe could outdo Lou when he hit four home runs in one game, a feat Ruth never accomplished.
LOU GEHRIG BATTING. [screaming] GEHRIG WAS EVERYMAN, a fixture in the lineup, a pillar of strength. Said Gehrig, “I’m just the guy on the Yankees who’s in there every day. I’m the fellow who follows the Babe in the batting order.” Every day meant every day, beginning June 1st, 1925. Nothing could knock Gehrig out of the lineup.
And on August 17th, 1933, he set a major league record when he passed Everett Scott by playing in his 1,308th consecutive game. He played with aches and pains, bumps and bruises. Fact is, he played with broken bones. Still, he kept going. Apparently, he had broken, over the course of that streak, he had broken every finger on both hands at least once.
And I don’t know why that’s never been brought out. I think every finger in his right hand was broken at one time or another, and other bones as well. Didn’t slow down, he played every day just the same. He played through it all. The street did take on a meaning to him. For Gehrig, it was mind over matter.
Sure, baseball is hard work and the strain is tremendous, but I have the will to play. An iron will deep inside an iron horse. Still to come on Yankeegraphy. Sooner or later, you’ll have to throw the ball over the plate. I mean, you do I’ll cream you. That’s That’s the type of guy he was. Welcome back to Yankeegraphy.
Lou Gehrig was not your typical ball player. Fact is, he was the polar opposite of Babe Ruth. Gehrig was well-educated, quiet, and he certainly wasn’t drawn to the camera the way Ruth was. Now, they say that behind every great man is a great woman. And in Lou’s case, that would be his mom, with whom he lived up until the age of 30.
But come 1933, there was a new woman in Lou’s life. It was perhaps the happiest of times for Lou Gehrig. A woman had caught his eye, and after three decades of living with his mother, Lou was now in love. Eleanor Twitchell may have been the first young woman that Lou courted. He wasn’t much for women because of his shyness.
She was more the socialite. I mean, she came from a background of really the Chicago speakeasies and you know, the whole nightclub scene. And Lou was still the mama’s boy who lived with his parents and everything. So, they were very diametrically opposed personalities. Ma Gehrig was a very possessive person.
If she had had her druthers, Lou would have lived with her for the rest of her life. And she treated Eleanor rather poorly. In fact, as the wedding neared, she became so difficult that Lou got on the phone and called the mayor of New Rochelle and had him come over and marry them because he was afraid, of course, that the mother was going to disrupt it all so terribly that it was all going to end up in a big mess.
And so, they ended up getting married one day before the wedding was scheduled. There are those who feel Lou’s happiness at home made him an even better player the next few years. But there was another factor to consider. I think he had a a good marriage and I think Eleanor uh was helpful, but it’s quite clear that at that time Lou was reaching the peak of his career.
He was a splendid athlete. Gehrig’s physique was natural. It seemed like he was chiseled out of iron. Those who saw him up close find few today that come close to his power and strength. I’ll tell you who I remind me of, this boy that plays first base for Cleveland. He reminded me of Lou, the way he stepped in the box, the way he hit.
Oh, he was a powerhouse. There was no no question about it. He was a tremendous hitter. He just stood perfectly flat-footed and just swung and had so much power, you know. He never stepped into the ball, he just planted those feet in there. I had a tougher time with Lou Gehrig than anybody.
In fact, he was the toughest hitter for me to pitch to. I couldn’t pitch him over the plate because he’d pull it. And when he hit a ball, it it’s just like a golf ball. Pitchers throughout the league were intimidated by Gehrig. He forced them to second-guess every pitch and to devise imaginative ways to outfox him. He was a low ball hitter and I threw underhanded, you know, and I threw a sinker ball.
So, I was pitting my strength against his, which was pretty dangerous cuz he was a powerful powerful hitter. And he had legs, you know, tremendous calves and legs. So, I used to throw at his feet. Even when he got knocked down, he took it. Lou treated it like a son or a brother. You’ll have to throw the ball over the plate.
And when you do, I’ll cream you. That’s That’s the type of guy he was. I loved him. Lou was the premier slugger of the ’30s. In a decade known for prolific offense, even legends like Jimmie Foxx and Hank Greenberg paid homage to Gehrig. All you have to do is look at that record book, and that’ll tell you the story.
No matter what I did, no matter how I compare my runs batted in and my accomplishments as a long ball hitter, Gehrig has always done it better. So, Gehrig’s record is phenomenal. In 1934, Gehrig won the Triple Crown, the first Yankee ever to do so. Incredibly, the MVP award was won by a man with half as many RBIs as Lou and just two home runs.
Mickey Cochrane was the force that drove the Tigers to the pennant. He was the difference. Mickey Cochrane had a a rather interesting career. He was very peppery, aggressive, volatile player. I think that must have had an impact on the people who selected the most valuable player.
That goes with Lou playing second banana all the time. Gehrig took the affront in stride. He always did. And in 1935, he no longer was second banana on the Yankees, for Ruth had left the team. Though the press and fans lamented the loss of Babe throughout the season. Lou led the team in RBIs once again. He’d do so a Yankee record nine times.
And as usual, he quietly led by example. Gehrig was recognized as the leader, the moral leader, the strength leader, the power at the plate leader. But even that was about to change. Welcome back to For 10 years, Lou Gehrig played in the shadow of Babe Ruth. When Babe took off the pinstripes after the ’34 season, Gehrig finally had the spotlight to himself.
But not for long. Joe DiMaggio arrived in Yankee training camp in 1936. He’d never been east of the Rocky Mountains. Lou Gehrig had been a major leaguer already for more than 10 seasons. DiMaggio arrived as a very young, very green rookie when Gehrig was toward the end of his career already.
That’s not to say Gehrig was finished, for he and DiMaggio became a devastating duo in the lineup. But because Lou couldn’t compete with DiMaggio’s charisma, the spotlight shifted back to Joe. As soon as Joe DiMaggio showed up, you know, highly publicized young ball player from San Francisco, that that doomed Lou again to the second role on the Yankees, despite the fact that Lou was captain of the Yankees.
Still, they produced a combined 277 runs batted in their first year together, marking the start of an amazing championship run. The dynasty that began with the arrival of DiMaggio, but of which Gehrig was an absolutely essential part, is clearly one of baseball’s great teams. It was also in ’36 the Yankees met the cross town rival New York Giants in the series.
In game four they faced Carl Hubbell whose nasty screwball won him 17 straight games. And he didn’t allow a home run with a runner on base all year. That was the peak of Hubbell’s career. He was one of the most difficult pitchers in Major League Baseball to hit. But Gehrig broke the string with a two-run home run that helped lift the Yankees to another title, Gehrig’s fourth.
I think he took great satisfaction out of hitting one out of the park against Hubbell. Said Gehrig, “He was all pitcher that Hubbell. I’ve had thrills galore, but I don’t think any one of them topped that one.” Although the Yankees were soaring, the public perception of Gehrig was something that continued to quietly nag at him.
Lou became very frustrated over the years by his role as the second guy. Here was the captain of the Yankees getting a good deal less attention than this new tremendously talented young kid, Joe DiMaggio. DiMaggio’s shadow hung heavily over that team. He was the big guy. Still, it was Gehrig who wielded the big bat, posting consistently amazing numbers.
It was at the plate Lou did all his talking. He was not a natural leader. He was a great ball player, but he was a quiet person, an extremely earnest person, somebody who took himself probably a little bit too seriously, but not really a team leader. He was a team player. One of the great wonders for Lou Gehrig of his last three years with the Yankees was watching DiMaggio play.
He said that DiMaggio was the greatest instinctive ball player he’s ever seen, and this is from a man who played with Babe Ruth. And despite all the hoopla by the Ruth-Gehrig tandem, it was Gehrig and DiMaggio who did something no other major league team had done, win three straight titles. I think during the three years when Gehrig was completely healthy and playing with DiMaggio, they were clearly an awesome one-two punch.
Awesome on the field, yes. But it’s probably no surprise they were distant off it. DiMaggio and Gehrig really were traveling in very separate orbits. There was not an enormous amount of interaction between them and they were both very quiet men. Of course, Lou did take one shot at opening up in Hollywood.
Looking back, it probably was not Lou’s best decision. It was a movie called Rawhide, something he probably never should have done. He played a heroic cowboy. And to think I come out here for peace and quiet. It was just a grade Z movie. I would say it did not qualify for an Academy Award that year.
Strike one. Coming up next. I’m going to congratulate you on your wonderful career in playing 2,000 games without missing a game. He knew that Colonel Ruppert gloried in this streak and that’s one of the reasons he continued on. I’m going to congratulate you on uh your wonderful career in playing 2,000 games without missing a game.
And I hope I’m around here when you play your next 2,000. Thank you very much. And a wonderful job, and you should be congratulated and uh and I’m sure that you’re going to continue for a long time to come. Thank you, Joe. Unfortunately for Lou, he would only have a short time ahead of him.
His basic motor skills began to decline, something he noticed at spring training in 1939. Lou had trouble both during batting practice and when he tried to play the field. The beginning of the 1939 season was rather disastrous for Lou. Obviously, there was something radically wrong with him.
He couldn’t run, his fielding was inept. I had an experience with Lou that I’ll never forget. In 1939, Lou was standing with one foot up on the dugout, and I walked up behind him and grabbed him by the neck, the headlock, you know, and usually it lift me off the ground. And this time he just dropped, and he said, “Oh my god, don’t do that.
” And I had to help him up, and I said, “What’s the matter with you?” He said, “I don’t know.” He said, “I’ve just lost all my strength.” I’ll never forget that. That’s the last time I saw him. You can’t imagine that something like that would happen to a big, strong man like him. Even gripping his bat had become a chore.
Lou was getting weaker by the day, and it mystified him. Something was the matter with me. He didn’t know what. He also realized something more, which was more important to him, that he wasn’t helping the team. And in Detroit, they had a day off, and he got together with manager Joe McCarthy, a man that he respected very much.
And they met in the hotel room, and Lou simply said to McCarthy, he said, “I think I’m going to to down, Joe. I’m not doing the team any good anymore. On May 2nd, Lou ended his amazing streak at 2,130 consecutive games. He was replaced, coincidentally by a man named Babe, Babe Dahlgren, who still implored Gehrig to take the field.
He stood up and he was wiping the tears off his eyes. He He cried. He broke down. I said, “Lou, you got to get in the ball game. Keep that streak going.” Cuz I didn’t know he was sick. And in the night then and I said, “Lou, this is your last chance to get out there and keep the streak going.
” And he he’s going to get out there. And that was it, and the streak was broken. Lou could no longer play, but he wasn’t ready to let go. In his final days in ’39, he could barely walk out to home plate, but he was still captain of the team, and he used to hand in the lineup every day. Finally, Gehrig paid a visit to the famed Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
The doctors there performed a battery of tests, and one doctor in particular gained Gehrig’s trust. Lou would pay a number of visits to Dr. Bayard Horton’s house, and while there, he befriended the doctor’s 9-year-old son, Tommy, now an author. And I remember he walked up to our house from the Kahler Hotel.
He just was a huge gentleman, and this chair in my living room is the one thing that I asked my mother and father to give me when they passed away, and Gehrig used to sit in that chair. He paid attention to to children, and listened to what you had to say. And I told him off-color stories, and Gehrig would laugh like crazy, and my mother sent me to my room without any supper.
Finally, they determined that Lou had a rare, terminal disease. There would now be closure to a magnificent career, and soon, a life. Lou was called upon without notes to make what has since become regarded as baseball’s Gettysburg Address. With their iron horse robbed of his strength and stamina by a mysterious disease, the Yankees held Lou Gehrig Day on July 4th, 1939.
Almost 62,000 fans turned out to honor their hero with awards and testimonials. The poignant ceremony was a celebration of Lou’s career cloaked in sadness for its abrupt end. For many years you covered first base for the Yankees. You were in there every day, no matter how many runs they were ahead or behind, giving all you had.
You will live long in baseball, and for generations to come, when boys in America play baseball, they will point to your record with pride and satisfaction. Teammates past and present turned out en masse, including the most famous of them all, Babe Ruth. 1927, Lou was with us, and I say that that was the best ball club the Yankees ever had.
My idea is to let Lou go up into the mountains. I saw a fishing rod here a minute ago. Let him go up there and see if he can catch every fish there is. I know that all the players on the field were crying and and I guess we they had a packed stadium and everybody there. It It was very very sad and then nice, you know what I mean? Most of those in attendance didn’t realize just how serious Lou’s disease really was.
It wasn’t clear to me that he was quitting for all time. I think it wasn’t clear to a lot of people that he was quitting for all time at that moment. But as soon as we heard other things about the progress of the disease, we knew later that Lou would never play again. We did not know that Lou Gehrig was dying of an incurable disease.
It was unheard of. We knew he was suffering, but we didn’t know he wasn’t going to be cured. So, I didn’t think of it as looking at a dying man. But Lou was dying. And in retrospect, it made what happened next one of the game’s most memorable and touching moments. Encouraged by the fans, Lou took one last walk to the plate.
For the past 2 weeks, you’ve been reading about a bad break. I was touched by what he had to say, and I knew the emotion that went into the speech because I knew the follow. And nobody could hear it, but they be convinced that he was speaking from the heart. When you look around, wouldn’t you consider it a privilege to associate yourself with such a fine-looking man as is standing in uniform in this ballpark today? He never did say very much about himself.
He didn’t feel sorry about himself. And it certainly was a very, very sad day for all of us to see him there right there at that microphone. Because we remembered of all the wonderful things that he did for the team. Lou was called upon without notes to make what has since become regarded, I guess without any sarcasm, as baseball’s Gettysburg Address.
Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. Here’s columnist Shirley Povich, who was in attendance that emotional day. I saw strong men weep this afternoon. Expressionless umpires swallow hard. And emotion pumped the hearts and glazed the eyes of 61,000 baseball fans in Yankee Stadium.
Yes, and hard-boiled news photographers clicked their shutters with fingers that trembled a bit. That I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for. Thank you. Just 2 years later, Lou was gone. As if the legend of Lou Gehrig wasn’t already big enough, it only grew larger in the years following his untimely death.
His number four was the first player ever to have a number retired. And then of course, when they named him to the Hall of Fame, they named him almost immediately. In fact, Lou was the first player ever inducted directly into the Hall of Fame sans the 5-year grace period. Meanwhile, in New York, he received a multitude of tributes.
One was written on behalf of his teammates by journalist John Kieran. Idol of cheering millions, records are yours by the sheaves. Iron of frame, they hailed you and decked you with laurel leaves. Lou became just the second Yankee to have a plaque in his honor in Monument Park.
Much like Gehrig, it’s proven to be quite durable. It’s interesting. He’s a guy who I think whose star may have gotten brighter rather than dimmed. The Ripken story really helped re-emerge Lou Gehrig. A story that culminated the night that Cal Ripken Jr. topped Lou Gehrig’s incredible consecutive games played streak. The moment that will stay with me the most is Ripken talked about being paired in history with the courageous Lou Gehrig.
Tonight, I stand here overwhelmed as my name is linked with the great and courageous Lou Gehrig. And the crowd yelled Lou, Lou. I know that if Lou Gehrig is looking down on tonight’s activities, he isn’t concerned about someone playing one more consecutive game than he did.
Instead, he’s viewing tonight as just another example of what is good and right about the great American game. Thanks to this other amazing player, of Ripken, Gehrig finally had gotten his due. Lou certainly got his due in 1999 when Major League Baseball unveiled its all-century team. Amazingly, baseball’s biggest names, names that spanned a hundred years, took a backseat to Lou.
For no one received more votes from the fans than Gehrig. He was called the Iron Horse and was one of the great sluggers of all time. He still holds the record for 23 career grand slams. Lou Gehrig. It’s ironic that Lou’s name, for so many years a symbol of strength and endurance, lives on today as the common name of the disease that took his life and as inspiration to those who search for a cure.
Lou Gehrig’s legacy is one of strength, courage, and a positive attitude in the face of adversity. The disease was first identified in 1869 and yet it wasn’t commonly known until Lou Gehrig became associated with it. ALS is a disease that attacks the nerve cells. Patients lose the ability to move, to speak, and eventually to breathe.
The fact that Lou succumbed to it no doubt helped others understand its impact. No disease discriminates for the most part, but Lou Gehrig died of ALS, so no one should ever think that it couldn’t happen to them. Schilling should know. Every year a special player receives the Lou Gehrig Award in recognition of his excellence on the field and his charitable work off it.
Of all the players who received the award, none has had a greater connection to the name Gehrig or has worked harder in his honor than Schilling. He and his wife Shonda, their support for Lou Gehrig’s disease has been uh second to none and naming their son Gehrig as a tribute to all patients of ALS and as a tribute to Lou Gehrig.
This is Gehrig Clifford Schilling. And people say Lou Gehrig’s disease, the name is synonymous with death. So, with death with his name brings life. The name Gehrig, there’s nothing that will ever be negatively associated with that name. When you think about what he endured and you understand him as a man, I’m nothing but proud of the fact that he will be associated with that memory for all of his life.
Immortalized in death, revered in life, Lou Gehrig is a player and a man for the ages. We remember him like this, iron build, iron will, ultimately overshadowed only by the timeless courage of his words. The last time he came to the plate, which was on Lou Gehrig Day, to make that speech, was the time that most people remember him best for.
For him to be able to get up and make that statement, it’s something people will remember as long as people talk about the New York Yankees. Thank you. Well, I had an experience with Lou that that I’ll never forget. In 1939, I was on the Boston Red Sox team and that’s when Ted Williams came up that year.
And the um uh The opened up against us in Boston. And uh um in the in Fenway Park we have a common runway from the two clubhouses to get out on the field. And uh I’d been in the outfield running. I wasn’t working the game that day. Lefty Grove was opened up, I think. And um so I changed my sweatshirt. I’d been on the in the clubhouse running in the outfield.
And I came out and Lou was standing with one foot up on the uh dugout getting ready to go out on the field and he was smoking a cigarette. And I walked up behind him and grabbed him by the neck with the headlock, you know. And usually he’d lift me off the ground cuz that’s the first time I’d seen him since the year before. And this time he just dropped and he says, “Oh my god, don’t do that.
” And I had to help him up and I said, “What’s the matter with you?” He said, “I don’t know.” He said, “I just He said, ‘I’ve had a terrible spring.’ He said, ‘I can’t hit the ball out of the infield.'” He said, “I’m I’ve just lost all my strength.” And I said, “Well, when did you start to notice it?” Well, he says, “It started after the season was over last year.
” And he says, “It’s been that way all winter.” He said, “I don’t know what the problem is.” But he says, “I’m just uh I just I’m just weak.” And uh so we talked a little bit and then the game started and he left and he started the game. I don’t think he played the entire game, but he started first base. Well, that was on Tuesday.
And uh they played there Wednesday and Thursday and went to Detroit on Friday. And uh it was from Detroit is either Saturday or Sunday. That’s when they took him to Mayo Brothers and they found out what the problem was. He had ALS. And that’s I’ll never forget that. That’s the last time I saw him. Lou Gehrig with baseball fans all over America.
I greet you today. For many years you covered first For many years you covered first base for the Yankees. You were in there every day no matter how many runs they were ahead or behind giving all you had. You will live long in baseball. And for generations to come, while boys in America play baseball, they will point to your record with pride and satisfaction.
I congratulate you. They have always called for years the 1927 Lou Gehrig’s brothers and I say that that was the best ball club the Yankees ever had. And I think he’ll stay My What I should think Lou would do, I don’t know if the club is going to consider it or not, but my idea was let Lou go up into the mountains.
I saw a fishing rod here a minute ago. Let him go up there and see if he can catch every fish there is up. When you came to my room in Detroit some time ago and told me that you thought that you were handling the chances of the ball club by staying in the ball game. That was a day that I never wanted to see. For the past 2 weeks you’ve been reading about a bad break.
Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. When you look around wouldn’t you consider it a privilege to associate yourself with such a fine looking man as is standing in uniform in this ball park today? That I might have been given a bad break but I’ve got an awful lot to live for. Thank you.
Well, yes, it was a very difficult year, but the Yankees did have success and we went off went on to win the pennant in the World Series. But you know Gehrig’s speech I remember quite well. He continually said during that speech how lucky he was. How he had a wonderful family, his wife his father, his mother.
He was lucky to play with the Yankees. He was also lucky to have such teammates as we were. And everything that he said was about somebody else, not really about himself. He didn’t sympathize, he had no sympathy for himself. He was just a great guy that way. Uh he took things so serious. For instance, if he’d go over for four, had a bad day at the plate, he felt responsible if we should have lost that game that he didn’t get a base hit during one of those times with a man on base.
That’s how serious he was about the game, and that’s how good a leader he was with the team. That’s why I think why we went on to win so many pennants, because we looked up to Gehrig. And I knew the fellow, and I was touched by what he had to say, and I knew the emotion that went into the speech, because I knew the fellow.
And nobody could hear it, but uh be convinced that he wasn’t speaking from the heart. Actually, it was a dead man talking. He knew he was going to die. And uh to go and face all of these people in that stadium, and stumble out there, took a lot of guts. But he had a lot of guts. A good ball player. Get back here to Cooperstown, and I always try to make it every year, because it’s so nice to visit with a lot of your old friends, and visit and see the plaques of some of the players that you played with years ago.
And uh of course, there’s one who I always like to come and see first, and that is the plaque and the locker of my good friend Lou Gehrig, because Lou meant so much to baseball, and he meant so much to me. Thanks very much for calling on me to say a few words in behalf of my very dear friend, and I want to thank you very much.
In 1923, Wally Pipp got hurt. In September, the Yankees called up from Hartford a kid named Gehrig. He played, I don’t know, 10 games for them, 12 games. Hit over .400. The Yankees asked permission to use Gehrig at first base in the World Series. Because such permission had routinely been granted.
For example, Joe Sewell being brought up after Ray Chapman had been killed on the field in in the previous year. The commissioner said, “Well, it’s okay with me, but you have to run it by the opposing manager.” John McGraw refused permission to let Gehrig play. So, Gehrig would have been the Yankees first baseman in the 1923 World Series, but for McGraw’s obstinacy.
And as if the Yankees needed more reason to hate McGraw. Remember that in 1921 and 22, these two teams shared a stadium. And this wasn’t a Subway Series because nobody was going anywhere, but it was an all New York Series. And the Giants clobbered the Yankees in both those years. So, for McGraw to rub it in by denying the use of an injury replacement in 1923 gave the Yankees tremendous motivation.
And of course, that was the year of opening Yankee Stadium and they achieved their revenge with a World Series win. Do you think he’s feeling anything right now, buddy? Yeah, he was talking to himself. What began on May 30th, 1982 and continues September 6th, 1995. This game with the Angels trailing is now in the books.
And let it be said that number eight, Cal Ripken Jr. has reached the un-reachable star.
Tonight I stand here overwhelmed as my name is linked with the great and courageous Lou Gehrig. I’m truly humbled to have our names spoken in the same breath. Some may think our strongest connection is because we both played many consecutive games.
Yet, I believe in my heart that our true link is a common motivation, a love of the game of baseball, a passion for your team, and a desire to compete on the very highest level. I know that if Lou Gehrig is looking down on tonight’s activities, he isn’t concerned about someone playing one more consecutive game than he did.
Instead, he’s viewing tonight as just another example of what is good and right about the great American game. Whether your name is Gehrig or Ripken, DiMaggio or Robinson, or that of some youngster who picks up his bat or puts on his glove, you are challenged by the game of baseball to do your very best day in and day out.
And that’s all I’ve ever tried to do. Thank you. I remember pitching against him. Pitched against him for about 6 years, 7 years. And he was a low ball hitter. And I threw underhanded, you know, and I threw a sinker ball. So, my my strength was was a sinker ball, low ball. And his strength was low ball low He was a low ball hitter.
So, I was pitting my strength against his, which was pretty dangerous cuz he was a powerful powerful hitter. So, I used to throw at his feet. Cuz he used to dig in with his left foot. He’d step in the box. And if ever saw him play, he’d step in with that big left foot of his and and uh and then swing into the box, you know, and he’d just plant himself there.
And he had legs, you know, tremendous calves and legs. And uh so he just like a piece of granite. So, I found out if I throw at his feet and keep his keep that left foot loose why he couldn’t dig in on me. And it worked pretty good. One day I hit him in the in the toe and it fractured his toe. He had to wear a aluminum cast on it for a while.
He said that when he went down that day, I hit him in the foot and Bill McGowan was was umpiring. And he said, “Bill,” he said, “I don’t know what he said. I told you he was throwing at my feet.” And he said, “He finally hit me.” He said, “He broke my toe.” Bill McGowan said, “Ah, get up.” He said, “That didn’t hurt you.
” He said, “He can’t throw hard enough to hurt you.” But uh that was a little We had a little thing going cuz I was always keeping his feet loose. I didn’t throw at his head or anything. I just threw at his feet and make him skip the rope. He knew I was throwing at him and throwing at his feet, and that’s what I wanted him to know.
In 19 39, we went to spring training. Uh Lou uh was having a few problems. Let me back off here a second. In 1935 when I was with the Boston Red Sox, it was a rainy morning. They had the tarpaulin on the field. And uh when they took the canvas off, some of the water got around that first base area.
Well, anyhow, the game started and Lou got a base hit and rounded first base. Uh when he got out over 15 ft, he slipped and he went down. And time was called and uh he kept saying, “Oh, my back.” And Doc Painter, the trainer, came running out from the Yankee bench and said uh “Uh what’s wrong, Lou?” And he said, “Uh I don’t know. My back really hurts.
” And he kept laying there. And I’m sitting there. I’m 22 years old at the time, 1935. And uh I’m saying, “Gee, what is this? A guy’s got a streak in consecutive games going.” And I do this stuff every day. I’m diving in stands. The guys tell me to stand up and get a draw. My clothes are always dirty from diving balls.
And and I see this one little slip and and he’s complaining and not getting up. Well, later in 1939 uh when uh he he was thrown out, I still didn’t relate it to ’35. But after I kind of felt that in 1935, this was coming on Lou then. Uh so, in ’39 spring training, everybody was uh anxious to see uh Lou come along.
And they thought, “Well, the guy is about 36 years old.” And father time is calling his back. And give him extra work. And it got so the bats felt heavy to him. And uh he finally picked up the Joe Gordon bat, which was the lightest bat on the team. And uh Excuse me. We uh went to Clearwater to play the Dodgers. And uh I think that Pee Wee Reese was the center field at the time.
And where Lou was having a tough time, he finally hit a shot out to right center. And uh looked like a short triple for Lou or anybody else. And uh we saw the ball hit and everyone said, “Gee, boy, old Lou got a hold of that one.” And uh so, we watched the throw in and we saw the short uh the shortstop cut off the ball and we’re all just simultaneously on the bench saying, “Where’s Lou?” And we look and he’s over on uh between first and second and his legs are starting to bow out like this and he’s running and he he made a desperate dive
for dive for the bag. And everybody in the bench just looked and said, “What’s wrong with Lou?” And uh a few days before that, a little foul ball was hit in St. Petersburg uh down the right uh field line. He couldn’t get to the ball and it dropped and he just he stooped over to pick it up and he stopped.
He just bent over and he and he couldn’t straighten out. And again, uh the players looked and said, “Geez, what’s happening to the guy?” And uh so, with these two incidents happening so close, uh well, they still got back well, the guy the the sports writers and everybody was saying, “Well, it’s just he needs more work and uh to get ready for the season.
” Uh when we left spring training, they were all saying, “Well, when he hits some cold weather, he’ll bounce back the humidity here in Florida and everything.” Uh being [clears throat] an old man, why he’ll be back. So, anyhow, we came out to Texas and up to San Antonio and uh he got a couple of hits and the writers said see we see we were going to say uh he’s he’s the old Lou now.
He’ll be all right. And then we went to Norfolk and there’s a little band box there and he hit two doubles and two home runs. And uh they all thought, “Gee, four for four, he’s coming along fine.” So, now we open the season in Washington and uh he got uh we went from Washington then and uh to New York and that was the last game Lou played was in New York.
And he had uh been to bat about 28 times with four hits. And uh we left the next day for um left that night for Detroit and it rained in Detroit uh on uh May the 1st. On May the 2nd, uh there was talk that Lou was going to get out of the lineup. You You didn’t know where this theory came from or rumor, whatever.
And uh so I know when we were in the clubhouse, uh everything was real quiet and no one was talking. And suddenly Art Fletcher came up to me and he said, “Babe, you’re playing first base today.” And I looked at him and Art had sort of a chiseled chin and he I couldn’t believe it. I looked at him and I could see his whiskers just sticking out on his face.
I said, “Are you kidding?” He said, “No, you’re the first baseman.” And uh so we went out on the field and uh the press were notified and uh the news media. Uh and they they started gathering at the park to to take pictures of this incident and Lou shaking hands with me and stuff like that and uh the game started uh just When the game started, Lou being the captain of the ball club walked down to the the uh umpire basal at home plate and he handed him the lineup.
And uh he came back to the bench and he walked right past us to the drinking fountain. And he immediately reached over to get a drink and he stayed down a long time. And Johnny Murphy took one of the clean towels. You Johnny Murphy was our relief pitcher, one of them. And he threw the towel, it landed right on Lou’s head.
And he just stayed down and finally he stood up and he he was wiping the tears off his eyes. He’s He cried. He broke down. And uh so we got into the game and it was a route. In the film of uh the Lou Gehrig Pride of the Yankees, they have the score 5 to 3 with Lou taking himself out of the lineup.
He never started the ball game. Uh we won 22 to 2 that day. I almost had four home runs. I hit a home run, I hit a double off the left field fence, and two that were caught off the left field fence, which if you recall the last World Series, they they can go in on a jump of the outfield. Did he say anything to you that day? Did Lou? Yes.
Uh so, the seventh seventh inning, I went to him and I said, uh “All right, Lou, get back in there now and keep the streak going.” And he said, uh Before the game started, he says, “Get in there and knock in some runs.” And then in the seventh inning, I went to him and I said, “Lou, you got to keep your streak going.
” And he he just said, “No, you’re doing fine, babe.” And the eighth inning, I went back to him again and cuz he was sitting right in the uh outside corner of the bench, practically on the field. I said, “Lou, you got to get in the ballgame. Keep that streak going.” Cuz I didn’t know he was sick. And uh he said, “No, you’re doing fine.
” And the And the ninth inning, I said, “Lou, this is your last chance to get out there and keep the streak going.” And he he’s going, “Get up there.” And that was it, and the streak was broken. Mel was sort of a young broadcaster, and um Garrick had pulled himself from the lineup in that famous he knew he was something was wrong.
He didn’t quite know what it was, and he was his skills were fading, and then the young broadcaster one day runs into him at the ballpark, and um Garrick tells Mel that his broadcast is on the radio or what is or what is keeping Garrick going, and Mel thanks him and then just gets away from him as quickly as he can cuz he he’s just in tears.
He almost can’t bear hearing this.
