His body betraying him for reasons he could not understand,
He had only three hits in the young season.
But he had 2,720 in his magnificent career and was playing in his 2,129th consecutive game.
His power was almost gone. A degenerative neurological disease that would be named for him was decimating his body. Gehrig was 35, only weeks from turning 36.
And with 2,713 hits, he is close to passing Gehrig as the
In 2009, Jeter can look forward to several more seasons and, if he stays healthy, to 3,000 or more hits. He is signed through next season and has said he might still be playing at shortstop when he’s 41.
Continue reading the main storyAs Gehrig came to the plate at the end of April 1939, he had just over two years to live.
His hitless game on April 24 prompted Arthur Daley of
Even the next day, with two hits against the
He did not even wait to be tagged. “He just lowered his head and jogged slowly back to the Yankee dugout,” Jonathan Eig wrote in his book “Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig.”The Times reported it differently, saying he was tagged out in a “reckless attempt” to stretch a single into a double.
Yet that day Gehrig felt optimistic enough that his ailment was temporary that he ordered three new bats from Hillerich & Bradsby, Eig wrote. They weighed 33 ounces, lighter than those he used in 1938.
April 29 was a Saturday, with 11,473 fans watching the Yankees play the Senators on a chilly, cloudy afternoon. The Yankees’ Lefty Gomez was pitching against the Senators’ Ken Chase.
Gehrig was fifth in the Yankees’ lineup, behind Frank Crosetti, Red Rolfe, Jake Powell and
In his fourth season, DiMaggio was now the team’s superstar, not Gehrig, whose .295 batting average in 1938 represented a worrisome fall from his .351 average in 1937. In 1938, DiMaggio hit .324 with 32 home runs and 140 R.B.I. In 1939, he was on his way to hitting .381, his career best.
In the second inning, Gehrig walked against Chase, a left-hander.
Before fans could will Gehrig another hit, they were distracted by a more immediate concern: DiMaggio was hurt. As he ran to catch up with a hard line drive hit by Bobby Estalella, his right leg got stuck in the mud, tearing muscles just above his right ankle. He writhed on the grass for eight minutes, The Times reported. He limped off the field and was later quoted as saying, “I heard something snap in my leg” and “I felt something crack.”
An inning later, Gehrig singled, but few, if any, could imagine it would be his 2,721st and last hit.
There was no announcement, no acknowledgment, no tip of the cap, no curtain call.
Bill Dickey came up next and singled. Gehrig stopped at second but advanced no farther.
The next day, Gehrig came to bat four times with men on base and did not get a hit. After the game, “there was a buzz of disgruntlement in the Yankee clubhouse,” Ray Robinson wrote in “Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time,” a 1990 biography. Some of his teammates doubted that they could win with Gehrig hitting .143.
With the Yankees heading to
Gehrig, not Manager Joe McCarthy, took the initiative. On May 2, Gehrig benched himself, and he would never return. “Maybe a rest will do me some good,” he said. “Maybe it won’t. Who knows? Who can tell? I’m just hoping.”
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