Lou Gehrig Research Paper

“IT’S OUTTA HERE! ANOTHER ONE IN!” These might have been some of the exclamations yelled through the radio while Lou Gehrig was playing his favorite game, baseball. During the 1920s, Gehrig displayed his love for baseball through his phenomenal batting average and experience on first base. This passion for the game landed him a spot on the Yankees roster, fulfilling his childhood dream of playing in the MLB (Lincoln). Throughout his time with the Yankees, he amazed baseball fans over the world and set an unbelievable record by playing 2,130 consecutive games. His 14-year career was cut short when he was quickly diagnosed with a disease called ALS, commonly called “Lou Gehrig’s Disease” in today’s world (Hood).

Lou Gehrig, otherwise known

by his real name Henry Louis Gehrig, was born on the 19th of June, 1903 and died on June 2nd, 1941, just 17 days before his 38th birthday (Lincoln). Although his life was shorter than average, it was action-packed nonetheless. He was the son of hard-working german immigrants and was the only child out of four to survive after birth. His parents wished for him to strive in every aspect of his life and supported him through his journey, beginning at Commerce High School. He graduated from high school in 1921 and signed to play football and baseball at Columbia University where he studied engineering (Aldrich). Along with his career, his college days were cut short due to his illness.
After supporting his family’s sickness, he signed with the Yankees as walk on and was offered 1,600 dollars (17,000 dollars in today’s world) because of his insane batting average and work on first base (Lincoln). Gehrig officially set his contract with the Yankees in stone in 1925, earning a spot on first base. From there on, Gehrig dominated the American League along with teammate Babe Ruth, winning the World Series a total of eight times (Aldrich). Although he played just as well and sometimes better than Babe, he was always lost in the shadows and never really got the media and public attention he deserved. This lack of attention did not flounder this New York native though, instead he continued to dominate the league and won awards and honors because of it. For example, he was the recipient of “The American League Award” in 1927 and was also apart of the winning team of the World Series in the same year (MLB).
Lou Gehrig continued this dominance throughout the 1920s and into the 1930s, picking up five more World Series Championships and six American League All-Star titles along the way (MLB).

It was not until late 1930s when Gehrig’s statistics began to show a sharp decline. He eventually removed himself from the lineup in 1939 when he found himself struggling to do simple tasks such as tying his shoelaces. With his family’s support, he decided to investigate on this sudden burst of trouble at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota (Aldrich). It was within this clinic that Lou was officially diagnosed with ALS, a terminal disease that strips the body’s muscles of nerve cells. After hearing of this heartbreaking news, Gehrig decided to remove himself from the Yankees’ lineup and completely retire from the game. Later that same year, the Yankees decided to dedicate a day for Gehrig to honor him for all that he did for their program and the Major League Baseball program. The MLB also gave thanks to him by breaking their rules and admitting him into the Hall of Fame prior to his passing (Aldrich). This event occurred on July fourth at the Yankees’ stadium and Lou clinched this moment to release a “goodbye” speech to his fans: "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth. And I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for"

(Lincoln).