Lou Gehrig - Early Life

Early Life

Gehrig was born in the East Harlem section of Manhattan at 1994 Second Avenue, weighing almost 14 pounds (6.4 kg) at birth, the second child out of four to German immigrants. His father Heinrich was a sheet metal worker by trade, but frequently unemployed due to alcoholism, and his mother Christina was a maid, the main breadwinner and disciplinarian in the family. His two sisters died from whooping cough and measles at an early age; another son also died in infancy. Young Gehrig helped his mother with her work, doing tasks such as folding laundry and picking up supplies from the local stores. In 1910, Gehrig lived with his parents at 2266 Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. In 1920, the family resided at 2079 8th Avenue in Manhattan.

Gehrig first garnered national attention for his baseball ability while playing in a game at Cubs Park (now Wrigley Field) on June 26, 1920. Gehrig's New York School of Commerce team was playing a team from Chicago's Lane Tech High School, in front of a crowd of more than 10,000 spectators. With his team winning 8–6 in the top of the ninth inning, Gehrig hit a grand slam completely out of the major league park, an unheard-of feat for a 17-year old.

Lou Gehrig attended PS 132 in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, then went to Commerce High School, graduating in 1921. Gehrig then studied at Columbia University for two years, although he did not graduate. While attending Columbia, he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. Initially, Gehrig went to Columbia on a football scholarship, where he was preparing to pursue a degree in engineering. However before his first semester, under the influence of New York Giants manager John McGraw, he was advised to play on a summer professional baseball team under a false name, Henry Lewis, despite the fact that it could jeopardize his collegiate sports eligibility. After only a dozen games played for the Hartford Senators in the Eastern League, he was discovered, and then banned from collegiate sports his freshman year. In 1922, Gehrig returned to the collegiate sport atmosphere where he was a talented fullback for the Lions football program. Later, in 1923, he would play first base and pitch for Columbia.

On April 18, 1923, the same day that Yankee Stadium opened for the first time and Babe Ruth inaugurated the new stadium with a home run, Columbia pitcher Gehrig struck out seventeen Williams College batters to set a team record; however, Columbia lost the game. Only a handful of collegians were at South Field that day, but more significant was the presence of Yankee scout Paul Krichell, who had been trailing Gehrig for some time. It was not Gehrig’s pitching that particularly impressed him; rather, it was Gehrig’s powerful left-handed hitting. During the time Krichell had been observing the young Columbia ballplayer, Gehrig had hit some of the longest home runs ever seen on various Eastern campuses, including a 450-foot (137 m) home run on April 28 at Columbia's South Field, which landed at 116th Street and Broadway. Within two months, Gehrig had signed a Yankee contract. Gehrig returned to minor-league Hartford to play parts of two seasons, 1923 and 1924, batting .344 and hitting 61 home runs in 193 games (It was the only time he ever played any level of ball—sandlot, high school, collegiate or pro—for a non-New York City-based team).