Lou Gehrig

Lou Gehrig

Born: June 19, 1903
Died: June 2, 1941
in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Henry Louis 'Lou' Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig; June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). He was renowned for his prowess as a hitter and for his durability, which earned him his nickname "the Iron Horse". He is widely regarded as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. He was an All-Star seven consecutive times, a Triple Crown winner once, an American League (AL) Most Valuable Player twice, and a member of six World Series champion teams.

He had a career (.340) batting average, (.632) slugging average, and a (.447) on base average. He hit 493 home runs and had 1,995 runs batted in (RBI). He still has the highest ratio of runs scored plus runs batted in per 100 plate appearances (35.08) and per 100 games (156.7) among Hall of Fame players. In 1939, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and was the first MLB player to have his uniform number (4) retired by a team.

A native of New York City and a student at Columbia University, he signed with the Yankees on April 29, 1923. He set several major-league records during his career, including the most career grand slams (23; since broken by Alex Rodriguez) and most consecutive games played (2,130), a record that stood for 56 years and was long considered unbreakable until it was surpassed by Cal Ripken Jr. in 1995.

His consecutive game streak ended on May 2, 1939, when he voluntarily took himself out of the lineup, stunning both players and fans, after his performance on the field became hampered by an undiagnosed ailment subsequently confirmed to be amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is an incurable neuromuscular illness, now commonly referred to as "Lou Gehrig's disease". The disease forced him to retire at age 36, and claimed his life two years later.

The pathos of his farewell from baseball was capped off by his iconic 1939 "Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth" speech at Yankee Stadium. In 1969, the Baseball Writers' Association of America voted Gehrig the greatest first baseman of all time, and he was the leading vote-getter on the MLB All-Century Team chosen by fans in 1999. A monument in his honor, originally dedicated by the Yankees in 1941, currently resides in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. The Lou Gehrig Memorial Award is given annually to the MLB player who best exhibits Gehrig's integrity and character.

In October 1939, he accepted Mayor Fiorello La Guardia's appointment to a 10-year term as a New York City parole commissioner (Gehrig had moved from New Rochelle to Riverdale to satisfy a residency requirement for the job) and was sworn into office on January 2, 1940. The Parole Commission commended Gehrig for his "firm belief in parole, properly administered", stating that Gehrig "indicated he accepted the parole post because it represented an opportunity for public service. He had rejected other job offers—including lucrative speaking and guest appearance opportunities—worth far more financially than the $5,700 a year commissionership." When his deteriorating physical condition made it impossible for him to continue, he quietly resigned from the position, about a month before his death.

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Movies for Lou Gehrig...

Springfield of Dreams: The Legend of Homer Simpson
Title: Springfield of Dreams: The Legend of Homer Simpson
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: October 20, 2017
Type: Movie
In honor of Homer's journey to the Hall of Fame, MLB all-stars and Springfield locals look back at the greatest corporate softball game ever played.
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Reel Baseball: Baseball's Golden Era the Way Americans Witnessed It
Title: Reel Baseball: Baseball's Golden Era the Way Americans Witnessed It
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: September 25, 2012
Type: Movie
Broadcaster Joe Garagiola narrates the greatest games of baseball's golden era in this nostalgia-packed documentary. Its unique focus is legendary ball games the way most of America witnessed them . . . in the movie newsreels. The venues are America's grand old ball parks: the original Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Brooklyn's Ebbets Field; the Polo Grounds, Tiger Stadium and other baseball landmarks that may be gone, but come to life again in this DVD. Witness Babe Ruth at bat; Lou Gehrig's ""luckiest man"" speech; Roger Maris breaking the Babe's home-run record; Pete Gray, the St. Louis Brown's one-armed outfielder; Ted William's final at-bat when he went out in grand style, ending his career with a home run, and other classic moments in baseball history.
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The House of Steinbrenner
Title: The House of Steinbrenner
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: September 21, 2010
Type: Movie
Love them or hate them, the Yankees remain the most glorified team in American sports history. Led by the Babe, the Iron Horse, the Yankee Clipper and the Mick, they dominated baseball for more than four decades before the legendary franchise sagged under the ownership of CBS. Then in 1973, a 42-year-old shipbuilder named George Steinbrenner, a man now as iconic to his team as the pinstripes on its uniforms, headed a group that purchased the Yankees, and turned that investment into a billion-dollar business. Since 1923, the ‘House that Ruth Built’ has been the epicenter of the baseball world, inspiring generations of fans to maintain loyalties through good times and bad. But with a deteriorating facility and an eye towards 21st century style revenues, Steinbrenner was inspired to build an impressive new stadium. While the Yankees kept their Bronx address at 161st and River Avenue, the new ballpark marked the end of one grand era with the hope of launching another.
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Super Stars of Sports: Baseball
Title: Super Stars of Sports: Baseball
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 1, 1991
Type: Movie
Made in 1990, this compilation video highlights the "Best of the Best" in Baseball.
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Babe Ruth: The Man, the Myth, the Legend
Title: Babe Ruth: The Man, the Myth, the Legend
Character: himself
Released: April 25, 1990
Type: Movie
Mel Allen hosts this look at Babe Ruth's life and career, focusing primarily on Ruth's years with the New York Yankees.
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Zelig
Title: Zelig
Character: Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Released: July 15, 1983
Type: Movie
Fictional documentary about the life of human chameleon Leonard Zelig, a man who becomes a celebrity in the 1920s due to his ability to look and act like whoever is around him. Clever editing places Zelig in real newsreel footage of Woodrow Wilson, Babe Ruth, and others.
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Rawhide
Title: Rawhide
Character: Lou Gehrig
Released: April 8, 1938
Type: Movie
Saunders with his Cattlemen's Protective Agency is running roughshod over the ranchers. Lawyer Larry Kimball is fighting him but he needs a rancher that will stand up with him against Saunders. He finds him when Lou Gehrig retires from baseball to take up ranching. Lou expects to relax on his ranch but quickly joins Larry in the fight.
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Speedy
Title: Speedy
Character: Lou Gehrig (uncredited)
Released: April 7, 1928
Type: Movie
Speedy loses his job as a soda jerk, then spends the day with his girl at Coney Island. He then becomes a cab driver and delivers Babe Ruth to Yankee Stadium, where he stays to see the game. When the railroad tries to run the last horse-drawn trolley (operated by his girl's grandfather) out of business, Speedy organizes the neighborhood old-timers to thwart their scheme.