Lou Gehrig was the kind of ballplayer everyone loved. He showed up every day with his skills, his bat and glove, and his deep desire to win. It took him a while to learn a skill; he was not a natural athlete. But when he learned something, he learned it forever.
Lou is remembered best as "The Iron Man", for his streak of consecutive games played. The solid first basemen would answer offhandedly when asked how many straight games he'd played, "that was '25 and this is '33, so it must be somewhere in the hundreds".
Because of his illness, many unknowledgably baseball fans think of Gehrig as a small, frail man. Nothing could have been farther from the truth. Lou was a big man, by far the strongest in the league. A story which exemplifies Gehrig's strength, determination, and class is told by Frank O'Rourke, a former American league player and Yankee scout.
"It was about 1926 and I was playing second base for Detroit at Yankee Stadium. Gehrig had walked and Tony Lazerri hit to short. I went over to the bag to pivot on the play and I thought a truck hit me. The interference was so obvious that Billy Evans, who was umpiring, allowed the double play at once.
"I yelled some names at him, strong names, too...and Gehrig stopped and started back at me. I figured this was the end but Harry Heilmann came in from right field and shouldered Gehrig away from me. I was never so glad to see a guy in my life as I was Harry.
"The next day I was at second base in the pre-game infield practice for the Tigers and I happened to look up and there's Lou standing behind first base with his arms folded. He was looking straight at me as though he was going to bore a hole through me. Our bench was on the first base side and I realized I would have to pass Gehrig to get to it.
"I fielded grounders as long as I could but realized I couldn't stay out there all day, so I finally tossed my glove aside and started for our bench. Gehrig took a few steps towards me, and held out his right hand...
"'Frank', he said, 'I'm sorry I went into you so hard yesterday. I shouldn't have done it.'". I shook his hand warmly as if he had been the president and said, 'forget about those names I called you, young fellow'. We were firm friends forever after."
Despite his slide, Lou was a gentle man who refused to hunt. He was well liked all over baseball, and the whole country was saddened upon his death on June 2nd, 1941.
Perhaps the most famous quote in baseball history was uttered by Gehrig on Lou Gehrig day, July 4th, 1939, which took place shortly after the news of Lou Gehrig's disease was made public. Lou, "A Quiet Hero", said with the class and dignity he'd been carrying for years,
"I may have been given a bad break, but I have an awful lot to live for. With all this, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."
