#Shortstops: Lou's Luggage

By 1934, Lou Gehrig was one of the most famous athletes in America thanks to his heroics on the diamond.

But soon, Gehrig – and other baseball legends – would take their star power around the world.

Gehrig was among the game’s stars that embarked on a 12-city, 18-game tour of Japan in November and December of 1934, including fellow future Hall of Famers such as Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx. The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s collection includes digitized black-and-white footage of this tour taken by Foxx and his wife Helen, which includes more than 20 minutes of the players engaging in activities both on and off the field. 

A unique artifact from that tour – a luggage tag belonging to Gehrig – is also part of the Museum’s collection.

The tag, donated in 1954, spans the length of just under four-and-a-half inches from the top of its brown leather strap to its base, and features an illustration of a ship operating within the NYK Line, or Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha transport company. “World-Wide Passenger Services” is printed above the image, and “N.Y.K Line” along with “Head Offices: Tokyo” beneath it. Behind the ship is a scarlet sun and yellow sky placed just above a cerulean ocean. The back of the tag lists Gehrig’s name and address — “New Rochelle, N.Y., U.S.A” in handwriting.

“We are reading every book we can find on Japan,” Gehrig said of himself and his wife, Eleanor, to Royal Brougham in a column about the tour titled The Morning After. “We want to talk intelligently about our journey, and get the most out of the splendid opportunities which this trip will afford.”

Gehrig went on to play four more full seasons with the Yankees after the tour before amyotrophic lateral sclerosis forced him to retire early in the 1939 season. He was elected to the Hall of Fame later that year and passed away on June 2, 1941.

Veronica Garza was the 2024 social media intern in the Frank and Peggy Steele Internship Program for Leadership Development