The legendary achievements of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig are undeniable hallmarks of baseball history. Much has been written about the two men as teammates, but Ruth and Gehrig's relationship away from the field is rarely, if ever, explored. In Gehrig and the Babe, Tony Castro portrays Ruth and Gehrig for what they were: American icons who were remarkably different men. For the first time, readers will learn about a friendship driven apart, an enduring feud which wove its way in and out of their Yankees glory years and chilled their interactions until July 4, 1939—Lou Gehrig Day at Yankee Stadium—when Gehrig's famous farewell address thawed out their stone silence.
The lost memoir from Lou Gehrig—“a compelling rumination by a baseball icon and a tragic hero” (Sports Illustrated) and “a fitting tribute to an inspiring baseball legend” (Publishers Weekly). At the tender age of twenty-four, Lou Gehrig decided to tell the remarkable story of his life and career. He was one of the most famous athletes in the country, in the midst of a record-breaking season with the legendary 1927 World Series–winning Yankees. In an effort to grow Lou’s star, pioneering sports agent Christy Walsh arranged for Lou’s tale of baseball greatness to syndicate in newspapers across the country. Those columns were largely forgotten and lost to history—until now. Lou comes alive in this “must-read” (Tyler Kepner, The New York Times) memoir. It is an inspiring, heartfelt rags-to-riches tale about a poor kid from New York who became one of the most revered baseball players of all time. Fourteen years after his account, Lou would tragically die from ALS, a neuromuscular disorder now known as Lou Gherig’s Disease. His poignant autobiography is followed by an insightful biographical essay by historian Alan D. Gaff. Here is Lou—Hall of Famer, All Star, MVP, an “athlete who epitomized the American dream” (Christian Science Monitor)—back at bat.
The definitive account of the life and tragic death of baseball legend Lou Gehrig. Lou Gehrig was a baseball legend—the Iron Horse, the stoic New York Yankee who was the greatest first baseman in history, a man whose consecutive-games streak was ended by a horrible disease that now bears his name. But as this definitive new biography makes clear, Gehrig’s life was more complicated—and, perhaps, even more heroic—than anyone really knew. Drawing on new interviews and more than two hundred pages of previously unpublished letters to and from Gehrig, Luckiest Man gives us an intimate portrait of the man who became an American hero: his life as a shy and awkward youth growing up in New York City, his unlikely friendship with Babe Ruth (a friendship that allegedly ended over rumors that Ruth had had an affair with Gehrig’s wife), and his stellar career with the Yankees, where his consecutive-games streak stood for more than half a century. What was not previously known, however, is that symptoms of Gehrig’s affliction began appearing in 1938, earlier than is commonly acknowledged. Later, aware that he was dying, Gehrig exhibited a perseverance that was truly inspiring; he lived the last two years of his short life with the same grace and dignity with which he gave his now-famous “luckiest man” speech. Meticulously researched and elegantly written, Jonathan Eig’s Luckiest Man shows us one of the greatest baseball players of all time as we’ve never seen him before.
"All these many years down the road, Lou Gehrig's reputation still holds up as does Ray Robinson's elegant biography." –Bob Costas Lou Gehrig will go down in history as one of the best ballplayers of all time; he was elected to the Hall of Fame and played in a record-setting 2,130 consecutive games. ALS known today as "Lou Gehrig's Disease" robbed him of his physical skills at a relatively young age, and he died in 1941. Ray Robinson re-creates the life of this legendary ballplayer and also provides an insightful look at baseball, including all the great players of that era: Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, and more.
"I CONSIDER MYSELF THE LUCKIEST MAN ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH." On July 4, 1939, baseball great Lou Gehrig delivered what has been called "baseball's Gettysburg Address" at Yankee Stadium and gave a speech that included the phrase that would become legendary. He died two years later and his fiery widow, Eleanor, wanted nothing more than to keep his memory alive. With her forceful will, she and the irascible producer Samuel Goldwyn quickly agreed to make a film based on Gehrig's life, The Pride of the Yankees. Goldwyn didn't understand -- or care about -- baseball. For him this film was the emotional story of a quiet, modest hero who married a spirited woman who was the love of his life, and, after a storied career, gave a short speech that transformed his legacy. With the world at war and soldiers dying on foreign soil, it was the kind of movie America needed. Using original scrips, letters, memos, and other rare documents, Richard Sandomir tells the behind-the-scenes story of how a classic was born. There was the so-called Scarlett O'Hara-like search to find the actor to play Gehrig; the stunning revelations Elanor made to the scriptwriter Paul Gallico about her life with Lou; the intensive training Cooper underwent to learn how to catch, throw, and hit a baseball for the first time; and the story of two now-legendary Hollywood actors in Gary Cooper and Teresa Wright whose nuanced performances endowed the Gehrigs with upstanding dignity and cemented the baseball icon's legend. Sandomir writes with great insight and aplomb, painting a fascinating portrait of a bygone Hollywood era, a mourning widow with a dream, and the shadow a legend cast on one of the greatest sports films of all time.
An entertaining read about the greatest baseball team, the 1927 New York Yankees, who beat up on American League rivals during the regular season and then swept the World Series. With verve, facts, and stories, Harvey Frommer evokes the Murderers' Row of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Miller Huggins, Tony Lazerri, Bob Meusel, and more.
More than any other athlete, Mickey Mantle was the American hero whose life personified the great expectations and unfulfilled dreams of the twentieth century. Hailed by Casey Stengel as the next Ruth and successor to DiMaggio, Mantle would become the first true sports icon of the television age. In Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son, former Sports Illustrated writer Tony Castro recounts a story of fathers and sons, rebels and heroes, and a youth's rite of passage. He interviewed over 250 of Mantle's friends, teammates, lovers, acquaintances, and drinking partners, producing an explosive biography of one of the world's most fascinating sports heroes and a telling look at the American society of his time.
Traces the careers of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle from a perspective of their love of the game and their significant contributions to Yankee history and tradition.
