Lou Gehrig Biography

1903-1941

American baseball player

Lou Gehrig, dubbed the "Iron Man" of baseball, is best known for his record for most consecutive games played, 2,130, which he held from his retirement in 1939 until Baltimore Orioles player Cal Ripken, Jr. surpassed him in 1995. Gehrig also had an impressive bat: he holds the Major League record for career grand slams (23), and, until St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire's phenomenal slugging streak, Gehrig held the record for most career home runs by a first baseman (493). He stole home plate fifteen times in his career, and his lifetime batting average, .340, is the fifteenth highest ever. However, to many Gehrig is remembered primarily for the disease which took his life and his name.