The Legend Of Lou Gehrig
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by user Cshimkin
For any baseball fan who loves stories about the legends of the past, pick up "Luckiest Man"- the biography of Lou Gehrig by Jonathan Eig. Most of the book is compiled in reportage from the twenties and thirties mixed with stories and memories from many who played with and knew Lou. Eig interjects his own voice only to connect the pieces and to provide context for the stories of Gehrig's life.
One of my favorite tales told is the one about how close Gehrig came to becoming a NY Giant. Manager John McGraw had him in for a tryout when he was at Columbia, but was so unimpressed with Gehrig's fielding that he dismissed him with very little thought. The next season he was signed by the Yankees organization. Gehrig retired officially on July 4th, 1939. Here is the actual speech Gehrig gave on that famous afternoon (notice that Lou actually begins the speech with his famous line, 'Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth' unlike the film "Pride of the Yankees" which ends his speech with that line):
"Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans. When you look around, wouldn't you consider it a privelege to associate yourself with such fine-looking men as are standing in uniform in the ballpark today? Sure I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with such a grand little fellow as Miller Huggins? To have spent the next nine years with that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Who wouldn't feel honored to room with such a grand guy as Bill Dickey? When the New York Baseball Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift--- that's something. When the groundskeepers and office staff and writers and old timers and players and concessionaires all remember you with trophies---that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles against her own daughter---that's something. When you have a father and mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body--- it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed---that's the finest I know. So I close in saying that I might have had a bad break, but I have an awful lot to live for. Thank you."
Lou Gehrig
Carl The Cabbie
To read article with pictures go to: http://bestblog.mlblogs.com/inside_pitch/2005/09/the_legend_of_l.html
Date
Wed 07/12/06, 12:07 am EST
