Lou Gehrig was born in New York to a family of German immigrants in 1903. He was the only one of four children who lived to a conscious age - his sisters died in childhood from whooping cough and measles, and his brother died while still a baby. Parents wanted to give the boy, who was fluent in two languages - English and German, a good education.
His passion for American football and good makings allowed Lou to go to Columbia University, which was supposed to help him learn to become an engineer. But Gerig spent the first academic year without sports - even before the start of classes, on the advice of the manager of the New York Giants baseball team John McGraw, he had several matches in the Summer League under a different name, which was strictly prohibited by the rules of the university. The young man was quickly discovered and disqualified for a year.
For some time Gerig still played football, but soon switched to baseball, where he really shone. In one of the matches for the university, a scout noticed him, and soon Gerig was offered to sign a contract with the New York Yankis, which every baseball player dreamed of in the 1920s. After spending one year in a farm club, where his slugger statistics could only cause delight, Gerig went on to increase and in 1925 firmly took a position at Yankis first base.
Gerig had to stay in the shadow of the legendary Babe Ruth - one of the best baseball players in history. But he earned the love of the fans quickly enough. In almost every season, 30% of Gerig's attacks ended in a run at least to first base, which is a grandmaster result. When Ruth’s career began to come to an end, Lou already became the undisputed star of not only the Yankees, but the entire Major League Baseball (Major League Baseball).
But Gerig was glorified not only by magnificent statistics. He was known primarily because he never, under any circumstances, missed matches. Even injuries were not an obstacle. Gerig calmly entered the field with broken fingers and continued to hit the balls. An x-ray of his hand taken in the last years of his career showed that it broke and healed 17 times. For his stamina, the athlete earned the nickname "Iron Horse".
The series of Gerig in matches played in a row has grown steadily, and sometimes he had to resort to tricks to extend it. Once, due to severe back pain, he went to an unusual position for himself and was immediately replaced so that the game was credited. Another time, Gerig had the flu, and so that his statistics would not go bad, Yankis general manager Ed Barrow announced that the next match would be canceled due to rain, although no precipitation was expected then.
On August 17, 1933, Gerig held the 1308th game in a row and broke the Major League Baseball record. By that time, he had already won three victories in the World Series, and there were still three more titles with the Yankees and the second rank of the most valuable player in the American League. Gerig's fame by that time went far beyond baseball - he was the first athlete whose photo was printed on cereal boxes, and he even tried, in the wake of his popularity, to get a role in films about Tarzan.
But still baseball remained the main occupation of Gerig. He continued to take part in each match, prolonging his record series. This continued until April 30, 1939. On this day Gerig held his 2130th match. But already on May 2, he brought the judges a card with the composition for the next game, in which he did not indicate his name. For baseball fans, it was a shock, and they began to wonder what was the reason.
At first glance, everything was obvious. Already from the middle of the 1938 season, Gerig's statistics began to fall. He quickly lost shape, fought off worse, and ran slower. Initially, Gerig's doctors suspected inflammation of the gallbladder and prescribed him a diet that only took away even more strength. He continued to play, as the coaches themselves did not dare to put the most famous baseball player in the world on the bench. In 1939, Gerig entered the field in the first eight matches, but made only four hits, and then he decided to voluntarily complete his incredible series.
Soon Gerig went to the famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester to finally understand the reason for the suddenly disappeared sportswear. According to the results of a six-day test, the athlete found out his diagnosis - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Doctors could not help. The famous baseball player was expected to have paralysis, problems with breathing and speech, and an early death for three years. Soon, the disease that every sports enthusiast in the USA learned about was called Lou Gehrig's disease.
On July 4, 1939, at the Yankis Stadium, Gehrig was celebrated, to which 62 thousand fans came. The baseball player gave a speech in which he called himself “the most successful person on earth,” and these words went down in the history of baseball. The fourth number, under which Gerig spoke, was permanently withdrawn from circulation - not a single athlete in the world has ever been awarded such an honor. Soon Gerig was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, becoming at 36 the youngest player who managed to achieve such a vocation.
After leaving baseball, Gerig was appointed head of the New York Parole Commission. He examined the affairs of troubled teenagers and visited places of deprivation of liberty, but the disease progressed rapidly. He could no longer sign the documents, and Eleanor's wife directed his hand.
In 1941, Gerig left his post, and a month later, on June 2, he died in his house. After his death, all the flags in New York were lowered, and US President Franklin Roosevelt sent flowers to the baseball player’s funeral. The widow Geriga lived another 43 years, devoting herself to the fight against the disease that claimed the lives of one of the best baseball players in history.