What Cost New York Yankees Legend Lou Gehrig a Shot at Hollywood Stardom?

Lou Gehrig is an iconic figure in baseball history, both for his legendary career with the New York Yankees as a slugging first baseman, and because of his tragic death from an eponymous disease at the age of 37. Despite his exploits on the field, he nearly had another star turn — that of Hollywood actor. At one point he was actually poised to assume the role of Tarzan in the movies but was ultimately passed over; possibly due to knobby knees.

The Iron Horse captivated the baseball world during his 17-year run with the Yankees. He walloped the baseball to the tune of a .340 career batting average with 493 home runs, 1,995 RBIs and six World Series championships. Having studied at prestigious Columbia University, he was more educated, and perhaps as a consequence, more taciturn than other stars of the day, especially his teammate Babe Ruth. Accordingly, he did not receive the same amount of attention when it came to the cross-branding some like the Bambino did with baseball and the burgeoning Hollywood business. However, his big break nearly came in 1936, when he was 33 and coming off an MVP season and there was a search for the next Tarzan.

Johnny Weismuller, a chiseled winner of multiple Olympic gold medals as a swimmer, created a lucrative secondary career playing Tarzan in a number of…