The Case:
An Oregon man has a baseball ticket that bears an autograph "Lou Gehrig" and a scribbled date: July 4th, 1939. The contributor's mother was an avid Yankees fan who regularly paid homage to the team at their home stadium in the Bronx.
The date is one of the most famous in baseball, when Gehrig announced his retirement, stating to a Yankee Stadium crowd of 62,000 that he was "the luckiest man on the face of the earth."
For months, unbeknownst to Gehrig and his fans, he had been suffering the progressive effects of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative disease that inhibited Gehrig from dominating the baseball field as he had done for so many years.
History Detectives heads to Yankee Stadium and Cooperstown's Baseball Hall of Fame to learn whether this ticket was in fact signed by Lou Gehrig and to explore how the athlete once known as the "Iron Horse" was memorialized by fans and by his own family.
Related Content
Technique:
Feature:
Related Links
Explore
-
Also in Depression and WWII: 1929-1945
Texas POW Camp
Was this small town in Texas the home of a WWII POW camp?
-
Also in Depression and WWII: 1929-1945
King Kong Camera
Was this old movie camera used to film the original version of King Kong?
-
Also with Gwen Wright
Calhoun Books
Are these the books of the famed intellectual architect of the Confederacy?
-
Also in Depression and WWII: 1929-1945
The Ni'ihau Incident
What do these metal parts reveal about the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor?
-
Also with Gwen Wright
Lafayette China
Did the Marquis de Lafayette give this china set to the popular wife of the Patriot Mayor?
-
Also with Gwen Wright
Frank Zappa Collage
Is the artist who created this piece Frank Zappa?
Comments
This is a place for opinions, comments, questions and discussion; a place where viewers of History Detectives can express their points of view and connect with others who value history. We ask that posters be polite and respectful of all opinions. History Detectives reserves the right to delete comments that don’t conform to this conduct. We will not respond to every post, but will do our best to answer specific questions, or address an error.