Lou Gehrig

flashback

Lou Gehrig (1903-41) was the Yankees' rising star when Babe Ruth was their supernova, and the two great Bronx Bombers were the extremes in baseball heroics. Foulmouthed and lusty, the Bambino makes John Tower seem positively bookish. An overgrown Boy Scout, Gehrig was a doting husband who fed his teammates eels pickled by his ever present German mama. Gehrig was a powerhouse. Suits had to be altered to hold his massive thighs, and he smacked a ball clear out of Wrigley Field while still a teenager. In 1934, he led the league in batting average, home runs, and R.B.I.'s. His troubles started in 1938, when his average dropped fifty-six points. The next season, his baserunning slowed to a painful shuffle, and the "Iron Horse" of baseball benched himself after a record-breaking 2,130 consecutive games. He was dying of a sclerosis—Lou Gehrig's disease—but he never struck out with the fans. Sixty-two thousand of them packed Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939, and wept through his farewell address. For the fiftieth anniversary of Lou Gehrig Day, the U.S. Post Office is issuing a commemorative first-class stamp.