New York Yankees championship series 1938: The rise of mystique and aura

The Real Man of Steel

For the first time in 2,130 games, Gehrig took himself out of the lineup on May 2nd, 1939; his last game played was April 30th.

And so it was that two weeks after Gehrig had been forced to retire…

"…on July 4, 1939, Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day, when the longtime Yankee first baseman uttered the famous words at a home plate ceremony at Yankee Stadium: “Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” The next day’s New York Times wrote “the vast gathering, sitting in absolute silence for a longer period than perhaps any baseball crowd in history, heard Gehrig himself deliver as amazing a valedictory as ever came from a ball player.”"

Getting Personal

What few knew in the stands that day was that Lou’s teammates, led by the longtime catcher, road roommate, and fellow future-HOFer Bill Dickey, had come up with their own gift for Gehrig.

It sat upon the table with dozens of other as he made his famous speech.

"Arguably the most cherished item Gehrig was given was a trophy from his 1939 Yankees teammates. On one side of the trophy were the names of all his current teammates; the other side a poem written by New York Times sports columnist John Kieran. It was reported that after Gehrig’s famed speech, he walked to the dugout carrying only one of the many gifts he had received, the trophy from his teammates. According to Kieran, one day Gehrig, from his chair by an open window, pointed to the trophy from his teammates and said, “You know, some time when I get – well, sometimes I have that handed to me – and I read it – and I believe it – and I feel pretty good.”"

Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse, died on June 2nd, 1941.