Luckiest Man

Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse of baseball famed for his 2,130 consecutive-games-played streak, made one of the most memorable speeches in the annals of sports. Heartfelt and poignant, this man with less than two years to live shared his feelings to an enraptured audience that left tears rolling down the cheeks of all but a few.

It was 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: “For the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break. 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.”

The Independence Day event, held between games of a doubleheader against the visiting Washington Senators, saw 61,808 fans pack the bunting-draped ballpark. For over forty minutes Gehrig was heralded by members of the 1927 Yankees (including Murderer’s Row leader Babe Ruth), New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and Postmaster General James A. Farley.

Among the gifts Gehrig received this day were a silver service set from the Yankees front office; a fruit bowl and two candlesticks from the New York Giants; a silver pitcher from the Harry M. Stevens company, the stadium’s concessionaires; two silver platters from the Harry M. Stevens employees; a fishing rod and tackle from the Yankee Stadium employees and ushers; a silver, three-handled loving cup from the Yankees office staff (pictured at right); a ring from the jewelry firm Dieges & Clust; a scroll from the Old Timers Association of Denver; a scroll from Washington fans; and a tobacco stand from the New York Chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Arguably the most cherished item Gehrig was given was a trophy from his 1939 Yankees teammates (pictured at right). Presented by Yankees manager Joe McCarthy, the 21 ½-inch-tall silver trophy with wood base features an eagle perched atop a baseball supported by six bats. 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:

Soon after Gehrig died at the age of 37 on June 2, 1941, Kieran would write, “That’s the best pay this observer ever received for anything he ever wrote.”

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.

Kieran, who was honored in 1973 by the Hall of Fame with the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for “meritorious contributions to baseball writing,” was an honorary pallbearer at Gehrig’s funeral. Soon after Gehrig’s death he was asked by Gehrig’s widow, Eleanor, to make the announcement to the newspapers.

On Dec. 7, 1939, the BBWAA voted unanimously to suspend the waiting period and placed Gehrig in the Baseball Hall of Fame immediately “to commemorate the year in which he achieved his record.” Besides his consecutive-games-played streak, which has since been surpassed by Cal Ripken Jr., Gehrig finished his 17-year career with 493 home runs and a .340 batting average.