Remembering Lou Gehrig

Lou Gehrig in his early days with the Yankees

The bookends to Lou Gehrig's magnificent career and remarkable life both occur on June 2.

Monday marks the 100th anniversary of the 21-year-old Gehrig replacing the concussed Wally Pipp as the New York Yankees' everyday first baseman.

Wally Pipp

Gehrig, who also appears the day before as a late-inning pinch-hitter, does not leave the lineup for a then-record 2,130 games after going 3-for-5 in Pipp’s place during an 8-5 victory over Washington before a Tuesday afternoon crowd of 6,000 at Yankee Stadium.

Exactly 16 years later, on June 2, 1941, Gehrig passes away from incurable amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known today as “Lou Gehrig's Disease.”

The final numbers for Gehrig during his Hall of Fame career include 493 home runs and a .340 lifetime batting average over 2,164 games with 1,995 runs batted in and seven World Series championships.

“His greatest record doesn’t show in the book,” legendary New York Times writer John Kieran later writes of Gehrig.

“It was the absolute reliability of Henry Louis Gehrig. He could be counted upon. He was there every day at the ballpark bending his back and ready to break his neck to win for his side. He was there day after day and year after year. He never sulked or whined … he was the answer to a manager’s dream.”