A Tearful Farewell
“A huge man and a small child combined in one runaway personality.”
-Lou’s wife, Eleanor Gehrig
Bygone baseball by C. Philip Francis
On July 4, 1939 Lou Gehrig, often called The Iron Horse, Larrupin’ Lou, or Columbia Lou, stood at home plate in New York’s Yankee Stadium saying his farewells to the game and his fans in what is probably the most famous ceremony in baseball history. Hall of Famer Tom Seaver said of that day, “There are few historical moments in baseball that will bring a hush, an eerie quiet, to a clubhouse…It is as if time comes to a halt with a piece of history that’s somehow more important than the game itself.”
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The month of June could be called Lou Gehrig month. He was born on June 19, 1903 in New York City as Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig, but is listed in the Baseball Encyclopedia as Henry Louis. He was in high school when he hit his first grand slam out of Wrigley Field in Chicago on June 26, 1920, and still owns the Major League record of 23 slams. Lou played his first game in Organized Baseball (O.B.) for Hartford on June 3, 1921, was diagnosed with his fatal disease at Mayo Clinic on June 17, 1939, and died – on June 2, 1941.
Lou played much of his career in the shadows of flamboyant and bombastic Babe Ruth. Baseball executive Gabe Paul once said of the Yankee great, “He never had much attention. He didn’t want it.” After the Yankees released Ruth in February of 1935 Gehrig was finally able to step out of the Babe’s long shadow. During each of his final three full seasons, 1936-1938, Gehrig led his Yankees to World Series Championships.
At the 1939 spring training it was obvious that the big guy was in trouble. As April ended Lou was hitting a pitiful .143 with no home runs, and only four singles with one RBI. Yankee manager Joe McCarthy was in a quandry on how to get his first baseman out of the lineup when Lou did it himself.
On May 2nd New York was playing the Tigers at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Before the game Gehrig said to a teammate, “I’m not feeling well. I may not play today.” He then went to McCarthy and asked to be removed from the lineup. Lou’s “unbeatable” streak of 2130 consecutive games played had suddenly come to an end.
But what was wrong with a young man who should have had many good playing days left? The answer came when doctors discovered that the famous Yankee had a dread and rare affliction called amytrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, or as it was later called – the Lou Gehrig disease. Lou stayed with the team, rooted for his teammates from the dugout, and took the lineup cards to the umpires before the game. The other players pretended that nothing was wrong with their stricken friend.
On that early July day in 1939 his New York team honored their friend with a “Lou Gehrig Day” at Yankee Stadium as 61,808 fans packed the park to pay homage to a great ballplayer. Many players from the championship 1927 team, perhaps the best ever, were lined around the infield watching as the ’27 flag was hoisted up the flagpole. Ushers, food handlers, office workers, writers were among the many fans present. Also were even many of the New York Giants who lost two World Series to Gehrig and his Yankees. Some dignitaries spoke as the great Yankee player stood with head bowed, and then finally the microphone was placed in front of the Iron Man as the fans went silent. It is believed that Lou had prepared a speech the night before, but apparently decided not to use it and simply said:
“Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth…When you have a father and a mother work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body – it’s a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed – that’s the finest I know. So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for.”
Although a petty feud had kept Ruth and Gehrig from speaking for several years the Babe then went over to shake his hand. Instead the Bambino threw his arms around the old teammate and hugged. Ruth later said, “…though I tried to smile and cheer him up, I could not keep from crying.”
Epilogue: Nine years later, June 13, 1948, Babe Ruth would be standing in the same spot much under the same conditions saying his goodbye to a packed Yankee Stadium. He wore his Number 3 Yankee pinstriped uniform and used a borrowed baseball bat for needed support. Babe Ruth died of cancer on August 16th.