 LOU GEHRIGBaseball player Born in 1903 - Died in 1941
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LOU GEHRIGBaseball player Born in 1903 - Died in 1941
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Lou Gehrig was one of baseball's great players. His parents didn't want him to make a career of baseball. They thought it was a waste of time, but he loved the game. He was on his high school baseball team. A talent scout saw him and offered him a sports scholarship * in college.
The family didn't have much money because his father was ill. His mother was a cook at the college, and Lou waited on tables to help pay his way.
He started playing for the New York Yankees in 1923. His parents scraped together $14 for him to make the trip to spring training camp in New Orleans. When he got there, he started looking for a job, but the team paid him some money in advance. (They usually paid the players at the end of the training camp.) He was able to concentrate on practicing and improving his skills.
He improved so much that two different times, he was named American League
Most Valuable player. He was called the
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Baseball Hall of Fame |
But then something bad happened. He could barely swing the bat and he couldn't run around the bases any more. He knew something was wrong. He went to specialists * . They said he had a disease called ALS. The long name for it is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (am e uh TRO fic LAT er ul skler O sis). It attacks the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord * and the person becomes unable to move. Death usually comes in two to five years.
He knew he would not be able to continue playing baseball, so he resigned * . The Yankees held a special day in Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939 to honor him. In his speech he said his career in baseball made him "the luckiest man on the face of the earth". That same year he was voted into the Hall of Fame. Players were usually not voted into the Hall of Fame until after they had been retired for two years.
Even though he could no longer play baseball, he continued to work. He took a job serving on the New York State Parole Commission * . He kept working until he died in 1941.
It is said of him "his character was beyond reproach * ". This means no one could say anything bad about him, because he was such a good person.
The disease ALS became know as "Lou Gehrig's Disease".
A frequent question: "Who wrote this biography and when was it written?" Look on this Reference Citations Chart.
Lou Gehrig Official Website
Lou Gehrig
Lou Gehrig's farewell speech
Lou Gehrig
National Baseball Hall of Fame
Gehrig legacy
Sports Century
Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse
Baseball History.com
At biography.com search for Lou Gehrig.
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Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man
By David Adler / Harcourt Brace
Lou Gehrig's perseverance is legendary. During the fourteen years as a first baseman for the NY Yankees, he didnt miss a single game. His stamina earned him the nickname "The Iron Horse" and helped him to set what then was a world record. Lou loved baseball and considered himself a very lucky man, even though on his 36th birthday he was diagnosed with a rare and fatal disease. This powerful biography traces Lou Gehrig's life, capturing his strength, modestly, and dignity for which this remarkable man will always be remembered. Recommended for ages 6 to 9.
Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig
By Jonathan Eig / Simon & Schuster Trade Sales
Lou Gehrig was a baseball legend -- the Iron Horse, the stoic New York Yankee who was the greatest first baseman in history, a man whose consecutive-games streak was ended by a horrible disease that now bears his name. But as this definitive new biography makes clear, Gehrig's life was more complicated -- and, perhaps, even more heroic -- than anyone really knew. Drawing on new interviews and more than two hundred pages of previously unpublished letters to and from Gehrig, Luckiest Man gives us an intimate portrait of the man who became an American hero: his life as a shy and awkward youth growing up in New York City, his unlikely friendship with Babe Ruth (a friendship that allegedly ended over rumors that Ruth had had an affair with Gehrig's wife), and his stellar career with the Yankees, where his consecutive-games streak stood for more than half a century. What was not previously known, however, is that symptoms of Gehrig's affliction began appearing in 1938, earlier than is commonly acknowledged. Later, aware that he was dying, Gehrig exhibited a perseverance that was truly inspiring; he lived the last two years of his short life with the same grace and dignity with which he gave his now-famous "luckiest man" speech. Meticulously researched and elegantly written, Jonathan Eig's Luckiest Man shows us one of the greatest baseball players of all time as we've never seen him before.
Leveling the Field
By G. Scott Thomas / Workman Publishing
Who are the all-time greatest and why? This groundbreaking new method for ranking players and teams rewrites the record books and sets forth bold new answers to the age-old debates of baseball. It is nothing less than a revolution in baseball statistics. G. Scott Thomas has developed a series of mathematically precise, computer-generated formulas that adjust the statistics of every team. The results "level the field," creating a fair basis of comparison among generations of players--and the new picture that emerges is staggering. Here are just a few of the book's conclusions: Babe Ruth hit ninety-four home runs in a single season, shattering Bonds' record (Maris, McGwire, and Bonds don't even make the list). Pete Rose has still played more games than anyone in baseball history. Ricky Henderson never really broke Ty Cobb's record of runs scored. Cy Young holds the record for most wins (and most losses) of any pitcher. Lou Gehrig made the equivalent of $48,300,000 in 1931. This book adjusts the statistics in all the major categories in which fans make comparisons, including the best performances, the best players, the best teams and adjusted career stats for 254 hitters and 177 pitchers. Thomas even assembles his twenty-six-man "dream team" of the sport's greatest players since 1901, and takes them through a simulated 162-game season. Easy to follow and use, this book is sure to become a must-have for every die-hard baseball fan, and will undoubtedly change the nature of baseball debate forever.
From Word Central's Student Dictionary
by Merriam - Webster
(Pronunciation note: the schwa sound is shown by ə)
scholarship
Pronunciation: 'skahl-ər-"ship
Function: noun
: money given (as by a college) to a student to help pay for further education
resign
Pronunciation: ri-'zIn
Function: verb
1 : to give up by a formal or official act
2 : to give up an office or position.....
spinal cord
Function: noun
: the cord of nervous tissue that extends from the brain along the back in the cavity of the backbone, branches to form the spinal nerves, carries nerve impulses to and from the brain, and helps to control reflex actions
specialist
Pronunciation: 'spesh-(ə-)ləst
Function: noun
1 : a person who studies or works at a special occupation or branch of learning....
reproach
Pronunciation: ri-'prOch
Function: noun
1 a : something that deserves blame or disgrace
b : loss of reputation :
commission
Pronunciation: kə-'mish-ən
Function: noun
.... a group of persons directed to perform some duty....
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