Lou Gehrig: More Than Just a Disease, a Baseball Legend

Henry Louis "Lou" Gehrig may be one of the most famous players in the world of baseball, however, to people who are familiar with medicine is name is recognizable, albeit for a different reason. While Gehrig had many years of success while he played on the New York Yankees from 1923 - 1939, his career was drastically cut short after he was diagnosed with ALS, also known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease".

While his time with the Yankees was during one of the greatest periods of baseball, he played with some of baseball's most famous players, including teammate Babe Ruth. Gehrig was the on-deck batter when Ruth hit his "called shot" home run during Game 3 of the 1932 World Series. Later in 1936, he was one of a record five players, all on the same team, to have one hundred plus runs batted in. To preserve records, he extended his consecutive games played streak a few times by just playing one-half of an inning on defense (out in the field) or completing an at-bat. His fans and teammates recognized his accomplishments and gave him names such as "the iron horse", "Columbia Lou", "Biscuit pants", and "Larrupin' Lou".

By being one of the key players on such a great team, Gehrig was rewarded. In 1927 and 1936, he was the American League's Most Valuable Player. He also was nominated to seven All Star Games, and won baseball's Triple Crown in 1934. When Gehrig was physically unable to play anymore, his retirement was bittersweet. On July 4th 1939, the Yankees declared the day to be "Lou Gehrig Day". On that day, Gehrig's accomplishments and contributions to the Yankees organization was recognized, as well as his #4 jersey was retired. Also that year, Gehrig was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Still wanting to give back to New York City, Gehrig worked as a city Parole Commissioner after his retirement from baseball. Many years after his death, he was named to the All Century Team and was ranked at #6 overall on The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Baseball Players. Some of his other records and accomplishments include:

Games played at first base - 2137 (7th overall on first base list)
Runs - 1888 (9th place overall)
Hits - 2721 (52nd place overall)
Doubles - 534 (26th place overall)
Triples - 163 (tied for 33rd place overall)
Home runs - 493 (tied for 21st place overall)
Runs batted in - 1995 (3rd place overall)
Walks - 1508 (14th place overall)
Batting average - .340 (15th place overall)
On-base percentage - .447 (5th place overall)
Slugging average - .632 (3rd place overall)
On-base plus slugging - 1.079 (3rd place overall)