That machine was Lou Gehrig, the “Iron Horse”.
Some things you may or may not know about Lou Gehrig.
- Four times he had over 160 RBI in a season, with a high of 184 in 1931.
- In one other season, 1937, he had 159 RBI.
- The 160 RBI plateau has been reached only 21 times in all of baseball history and by only 17 people. Babe Ruth (3), Hank Greenberg (2) and Jimmie Foxx (3) are the only other players to reach it more than once.
- Two of them, Sammy Sosa (160 in 2001) and Manny Ramirez (165 in 1999) have been linked to steroid use.
- When Ramirez did it in 1999, it marked the first time it had happened since 1938 when Foxx had 175 RBI for the Red Sox.
- Gehrig’s 184 RBI is the American League record, Hack Wilson holds the Major League record with 191 for the Cubs in 1930.
- In a 17 year career covering 2164 games, 9663 plate appearances and 8001 at bats, he averaged an RBI for every 4.8 plate appearances and one for every 4 at bats!
Lou Gehrig’s 162 game average was .340 with 37 home runs and 149 RBI!
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In 148 career games at Fenway Park, Lou hit .350 with 27 homers and 155 RBI.
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In early 1925, the Yankees offered to trade Gehrig to the Red Sox for their first baseman Phil Todt. This was said to “repay” the Red Sox for the Ruth deal. Sox owner Bob Quinn said no thanks! YIKES!
Phil Todt played seven years with the Red Sox and one with the A’s and had a 162 game average of .258, with 10 homers and 77 RBI. His career RBI total was 453.
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Lou Gehrig went to Columbia University on a football scholarship and majored in engineering.
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He played shortstop for the Yankees for one at bat in 1934.
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In 1943 a US merchant marine ship was named after Gehrig and on what would have been his 40th birthday, June 19, 1944, that ship landed on Normandy Beach, 13 days after D-Day!
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In 1923 while pitching against Williams College he had 17 strikeouts, which is still a Columbia University record.
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Lou died on June 2, 1941 from the disease know as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neuro muscular disorder, which today is well-known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
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Lou Gehrig’s number 4 was the first number in the history of professional sports to be retired!
And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history, July 15, 2012.
About fenwaypark100
Hello and welcome, my name is Raymond Sinibaldi. A retired history teacher, after 26 years in the classroom, a baseball fan for three score and five, I have authored 13 books. Eight about baseball and her glorious history; most recently Yankees in the Hall of Fame and Dodgers in the Hall of Fame. An aficionado of the Kennedy Administration, I have written four books in that realm and also co-authored a book of motivational stories for coaches. The first, The Babe in Red Stockings which was co-authored with Kerry Keene and David Hickey and released in 1997. It is a chronicle of Babe's days with the Red Sox. We also penned a screenplay about Babe's Red Sox days so if any of you are Hollywood inclined or would like to represent us in forwarding that effort feel free to contact me. In 2012 we three amigos published Images of Fenway Park in honor of the 100th birthday of Fenway Park. That led to the creation of this blog. The following year, 2013 came my first solo venture, Spring Training in Bradenton and Sarasota. This is a pictorial history of spring training in those two Florida cities. The spring of 2014 brought forth the 1967 Red Sox, The Impossible Dream Season. The title speaks for itself, and it also is a pictorial history. Many of the photos in this book were never published before. The spring of 2015 brought 1975 Red Sox, American League Champions. Another pictorial effort, this will be about the Red Sox championship season of 1975 and the World Series that restored baseball in America. The spring of 2016 brought 61 Motivational Stories for Every Coach of Every Sport. My first JFK effort was in 2017 with John F Kennedy in New England, which was followed by JFK From Florida to the Moon (2019) and JFK At Rest in Arlington (2020). Jackie's Newport came about in 2019 and in 2023 came both Yankees in the Hall of Fame and Dodgers in the Hall of Fame. I was fortunate enough to consult with sculptor Franc Talarico on the “Jimmy Fund” statue of Ted Williams which stands outside both Fenway Park and Jet Blue Park Fenway South, in Fort Myers Florida. That story is contained in the near 300 posts which are contained herein. Throughout the years this blog has morphed from an exclusive Red Sox focus, to a broader baseball perspective to a blog about life, with baseball a large portion of it. This year, 2024, I have reactivated this blog which lay dormant for quite some time. Welcome aboard, pass the word and feel free to contact me about anything you read or ideas you may have for a topic. Email me at fenwaypark100@gmail.com.
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