Regardless of what the others have told you, the original Iron Man was and will continue to be 6 feet tall, 200 lbs. Henry Louis Gehrig.
100 years ago today, in 1925, 21-year-old Lou Gehrig started a game for the New York Yankees when regular first baseman Wally Pipp was hit in the head during batting practice and complained of a headache, a concussion.
Gehrig, who had appeared as a pinch-hitter in the previous day’s game, collected three hits in five at-bats, helping the Yankees to an 8-5 victory over the Washington Senators. Gehrig will go on to play in a major league record 2,130 consecutive games, a record since broken by Cal Ripken with a streak of 2,632.
Then, in 1941, Lou Gehrig died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at the age of 37 in New York. From that time on, the illness will be known in North America primarily as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.” Gehrig saw his major league record of 2,130 consecutive games played end with the disease. It was on this day, exactly 16 years later, that he broke into the Yankees’ starting lineup.
Henry Louis Gehrig, also known as Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig, was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. Gehrig was renowned for his prowess as a hitter and for his durability, which earned him the nickname "the Iron Horse".