Lou Gehrig had the consecutive games played streak and a remarkable career
Lou Gehrig is a Hall of Famer who was a 7-time All-Star, won the World Series six times, won one batting title, won one triple crown and hit a total of 493 homers, which meant he was so close to joining the 500 homer club.
He is sometimes most remembered for his consecutive games played streak but his stats make him one of the best players of all time. He had a very impressive 2,130 games played streak without missing one which is a record that remained until Cal Ripken Jr. broke this iron man record. Ripken’s record of 2,632 consecutive games played ended September 19, 1998 and began on May 30, 1982.
Gehrig’s streak began on June 1, 1925 and ended on May 2, 1939. Gehrig’s streak began in his first full season for the Yankees after playing in 13 and 10 games in the previous two seasons and continued until 1939 when he was forced to retire at age 36 due to his declining health. He would shortly after his final game he was diagnosed with ALS.
Lou Gehrig is second on the consecutive games list by a wide margin. The third place player is Everett Scott, who played in 1,307 consecutive games. Fourth place is Steve Garvey, who played in 1,207 games from the end of 1975 to the middle of the 1983 season. Coming in at fifth place is Miguel Tejada, who is the only one in the top 20 who retired since 1998. Tejada 1,152 games from June 2, 2000 until June 21, 2007.
The Yankee legend pinch-hit in a June 1 game against the Washington Senators in 1925, then started in place of Wally Pipp the next day and was etched into New York’s lineup card for the next 15 years. This coined the phrase Wally Pipped when a star is born because of replacing someone else.
Gehrig played every game of his two MVP seasons and the season that he won the triple crown. He remarkably won the MVP in 1927 when he was 24 and then won it again in 1936, three years before he retired. It is rare for there to be a nine year gap in between seasons that a player wins the MVP for being the best player in the league.
He showed speed as well as power throughout his career as his nine seasons having at least 10 triples, 10 doubles and 10 homers are the most all time.
Gehrig’s totals in his 17 season career are impressive as he had a .340 average (10 seasons hitting above .325), a .447 on-base percentage, 1,995 RBI, 493 homers, 163 triples and 534 doubles.
His first MVP season in 1927 included a rarely seen 173 RBI with 47 homers, 52 doubles, 18 triples and a .373 average. He batted №3 in the lineup, which is why he wore the number three. His career high in RBI came in 1931 when he had 185 (led the league and is still most in a season in AL history) and finished second in MVP voting. The Iron Horse also had 46 homers (led the league), 31 doubles, 211 hits (led the league).
He finished second in MVP voting the following season in 1932 with 34 homers, 42 doubles, 151 RBI and a .349 average. He hit at least 30 homers in nine consecutive seasons from 1929 through 1937.
Gehrig only was an All Star seven times but would have been one many more times if the first All Star Game was not held until 1933, which was his ninth full season. He had already had seven 100 plus RBI seasons at that point.
His second MVP season, in 1936 when he was already 33 years old, had him lead the league in homers (49), walks (130), runs scored (167), on base percentage (.478) and slugging percentage (.696). He also had an impressive .354 average, 154 RBI, 37 doubles and 205 hits.
The slugger who grew up in New York City and went to Columbia University had 200 or more hits eight times, 30 or more doubles 12 times, 10 or more triples nine times and at least 100 RBI 13 times in his illustrious career.
After Gehrig’s sophomore year at Columbia University, he signed with the Yankees for a $1,500 bonus, which shows how much payment has changed between than and now. He was a pitcher and slugger for the Lions who routinely hit 400 foot homers that bounced into the Journalism building.
Gehrig tied with George Sisler for the 14th best batting average of all time, has the 11th most runs scored (1,888) and has the fifth most RBI (1,995) in MLB history. He had a remarkable career and his life was unfortunately cut short due to ALS (also known at Lou Gehrig’s disease) on June 2, 1941 only two years after he retired.
