Exclusive | Lou Gehrig Day Film Reel (13+ Minutes) with Gehrig Speech, Yankee Stadium, July 4, 1939
Vložit
- čas přidán 20. 04. 2021
- More than 13 minutes in length, this exclusive film reel from Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day includes several minutes of outtakes footage and audio not included in newsreel accounts of the historic Yankee Stadium gathering.
Held in front of more than 60,000 spectators between a New York Yankees-Washington Senators doubleheader on July 4, 1939, on-field ceremonies on Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day included Gehrig’s delivery of what is perhaps the most famous speech in sports history.
Before the Gehrig ceremony, Senators pitcher Alejandro Carrasquel, the first Major League Baseball (MLB) player born in Venezuela, is honored on the field on the eve of Venezuela’s Independence Day. Footage from the game played after the Gehrig ceremony shows Carrasquel pitching and giving up a triple to George Selkirk in an 11-1 Yankees win.
In addition to the Manhattan born, raised and educated Gehrig, speakers on this reel include Yankees legend Babe Ruth, Yankees manager Joe McCarthy, New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, United States Postmaster General James Farley, New York Times sports columnist John Kieran (presenting a framed gift) and emcee Sid Mercer. The Seventh Regiment Band plays music.
Gehrig speaks near Yankees teammates from 1927 and 1939, including 1927’s Ruth, Benny Bengough, Earle Combs (in Yankees uniform, in his capacity as a Yankees coach), Joe Dugan, Waite Hoyt, Mark Koenig, Tony Lazzeri, Bob Meusel, Herb Pennock and Bob Shawkey. Yankees president Ed Barrow (wearing glasses, a bow tie, and a light hat with a dark band) is seen on the field with Gehrig.
Also on the field were Wally Schang, Everett Scott and Wally Pipp, who were with the Yankees until 1925. When he replaced Pipp at first base for a game in 1925, Gehrig started a record streak of playing in the most consecutive major-league games. Scott was the previous record holder.
During his years with the Yankees, from 1923 to 1939, the stoic and reliable Gehrig had endeared himself to fans with his relentless excellence. He served as the Yankees’ captain over the last five years of his career. The Yankees won the World Series in 1927, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1937, 1938 and 1939.
In 1934, Gehrig won the so-called Triple Crown, leading the American League - in fact, the majors - in batting average, home runs and RBIs. For a time, some regarded Gehrig as superhuman. That’s because of his most famous major league record, since broken, of playing in 2,130 straight games. His ubiquity came at a heavy price. Gehrig played through 17 hand fractures, a broken thumb, broken toes and back spasms. The Iron Horse, as he was called, largely ignored injuries that were later confirmed by x-rays.
Gehrig’s consecutive games played streak ended May 2, 1939. He never played another major league game.
Just over a month later, on Gehrig’s 36th birthday, it was announced that he had a rare, incurable disease: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. Two days later, the Yankees announced his retirement from baseball. Many diseases, such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s, are named for the scientists who identified them. Only Lou Gehrig’s Disease is named for a victim.
In a story published July 30, 1939, Daily News sportswriter Hy Turkin wrote of Gehrig’s speech, “If there were any angels perched on the fleecy clouds over Yankee Stadium on the sunblessed afternoon of July 4, 1939, they must have wept… That speech, objectively, was one of the greatest in history.”
The address is often called the "Luckiest Man" speech (taking a phrase Gehrig used within to describe himself) and as Gehrig's farewell address.
Less than two years after Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day, 17 days shy of his 38th birthday, Gehrig died.
Lifelong Red Sox fan here, but it's Lou Gehrig and the Yankees of the '20s and '30s that made me fall in love with baseball. Baseball history is, in many ways, American history, and Yankees history is, in many ways, baseball history. The soul of America shines through in clips like these, and so I hope more people watch them today. Thanks for sharing.
Poor Lou. This is all very touching. It's wonderful that they did this for him and it looks like it was really painful and difficult for Lou to go through physically. He's having a hard time just holding his head up. Beautiful piece of film. Old New York in its beauty
Yeah poor Lou. The one thing that he's remembered for and it wasn't even thought of by the people in charge of recording it to keep an accurate, complete account of what he said. Shame on them.
What an incredible man! All the blessings! Happy Lou Gehrig day!
Thank you so much for this film!
What I'm immediately seeing with this is Lou's inherent shyness and humility, with his head down and him moving around his spiked shoes, he certainly appears uncomfortable with all of the adulation.
Also, note him clapping when Ruth is introduced. Although the differences between these two men have been well documented, I believe Lou had great respect for the Babe.
Just visited new York last week...Sensational. What a great hero he was.
Thank you for presenting the original footage. It is much appreciated
God Bless you Lou !!!
What a player and from what his contemporaries said about him as a human being. Pretty unusual to find that kind.
Lou was the very best as a ballplayer and as a human being.
Just a very small detail I find fun the two chicago teams played the two st louis teams that day. that is a cool little fact to lighten this up a little
As for the content of this video, it really must be seen by more people. A nice look at a memorable day that next to no one has really seen before. The various speech bits, crowd, all the people and presentations and even bits of the game.
Scott - Gratitude for your bonus trivia and nice comments.
@@mecanyc
Yes, Cardinals at Wrigley and the White Sox in St Louis to play the browns.
The best first base man of all time ❤❤❤
Mattingly 🤷🏻♂️
The 1927 Yankees lineup in suits. Ruth, Lazzeri, Koenig, Meusel, Combs, Bengough. Although I don’t see 3b Jumping Joe Dugan.
You can see the pain in his face as he makes his way through his speech, done with grace and dignity. I highly doubt that there are 5 players in the league today that would be able to make this speech without completely losing it. We live in a very different world today, one with many unthankful and greedy players who couldn't care less about the game but are all about the money. It sure has changed a lot since I started watching in the mid 1970's, and that for the worse.
So many years after the fact and my love and admiration for Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig has not diminished.......
5:00 notice how he was so weak, he dropped that picture frame
If biographers are to be believed, Lou didn’t want to take part in the ceremony, but was more or less compelled to. He suffered physically through the ceremony. Joe McCarthy had Babe Dahlgren watching Lou closely and if there was any sign of Gehrig starting to fall or collapse, he was to rush over and catch him.
Sad that babe would only live 9 years after
Such a powerful man taken down by a dreadful disease.
His doppelganger Gary Cooper. Spooky.
He was BORN to play him in "Pride of the Yankees." 😅WONDERFUL movie! One of my all time FAVORITES!!! 🥰😢😍
About 30 seconds of the speech is unfortunately missing.
Really most of the speech is missing except those 4 lines or so. It will be a miracle if the rest ever turns up on audio. It is lucky we have the most important line.
@@TeddyOberman I quote the last line of his speech a lot. I think it's more impactful than the most famous line.
@@TeddyOberman
Is there text of his speech anywhere online?
@@ThekiBoran several sites have the speech, but often misquote the 4 lines we have audio for. I contacted the Baseball Hall of Fame a while back and they now have the 4 lines correct on their site. The other lines are likely from newspaper accounts and may not be exact. I tried to post the link here, but it keeps getting deleted.
@@TeddyOberman Yes it would be a miracle but someone found a home video of Ruth's called shot in 1932 so anything is possible.
Cuál beisbolista es el que habla en español al principio?
El no speako spanisho.
@@TheBatugan77El sí, tú no!
Alejando "Paton" Carrasquel, tio del Chico Carrasquel; fue el primer venezolano es jugar en las grandes ligas.
Who’s the first ball player speaking Spanish?
Alejandro Carrasquel
Alejando "Paton" Carrasquel, uncle of Chico Carrasquel; first venezuelan player in MLB.
It is utterly disgusting when you think of how Lou was treated on this day. First, he had to share his day with a player from Venezuela. It seems that that could have been taken care of another day. Then to see the poor quality of the film, how it jumps and cuts off abruptly so many times. Finally, the one thing that Lou is best remembered for, his speech, was cut up and most of it was thrown out. If this was Babe Ruth Day, the speech would have been saved entirely. The video tapes would have been kept in better condition also.
probably, but 1939 was an even different time than 1946. And of course by the early 50's everything was being recorded in full.
They were making movies in those days so they should have hired a movie company
to film him give his speech. Video was not even invented till around 1958-'59, it was all
film in 1939.
@@hw5091 You are giving a very poor excuse for them when they were making
full length movies back then during the same time period.
@@chrisnalina1755 I'm not giving shit. That's the way it was back then.
@@chrisnalina1755 They were able to videotape Jim Farley's entire speech, why not Lou's?