After graduating from high school, Gehrig enrolled at Columbia University, where he studied engineering and played fullback on the football team. His parents, Heinrich and Christina Gehrig, were German immigrants.

His father, Heinrich, often had trouble finding work and had poor health.Christina was adamant that Gehrig receive a good education so, in 1921, he went to Columbia on a football scholarship to pursue a degree in engineering.

His Hall of Fame career saw him score 100 runs and knock in at least that many in 13 consecutive seasons. He lacked his usual strength. Despite his towering size, he stole home 15 times in his career.

Lou Gehrig, in full Henry Louis Gehrig, original name Ludwig Heinrich Gehrig, byname the Iron Horse, (born June 19, 1903, New York, New York, U.S.—died June 2, 1941, New York City), one of the most durable players in American professional baseball and one of its great hitters. By the following season, Gehrig was inserted into the lineup to replace the team's aging first baseman, Wally Pipp. Henry Louis Gehrig was born in the Yorkville section of Manhattan, New York City on June 19, 1903.

He took himself out of the game. Of their four children, Lou was the only one who survived to adulthood. Growing up as a mama's boy, Lou lived with his parents until he … His parents, Heinrich and Christina Gehrig, were German immigrants who'd moved to their new country just a few years before their son's birth.

When he returned to the dugout, his teammates complimented him on the “good play.” Gehrig knew when his fellow Yankees had to congratulate him for stumbling into an average catch it was time to leave. He retired in 1939 after getting diagnosed with ALS.

He played well every day despite a broken thumb, a broken toe, and back spasms.

He was born on June 19, 1903 in New York City. Ruth did it twice, and Chuck Klein did it three times. Babe Dahlgren was stationed at first. When asked if he would remove Gehrig from the lineup, manager Joe McCarthy said, “That’s Lou’s decision.”Gehrig played the first eight games of the 1939 season, but he managed only four hits.

Yankee fans, meanwhile, were thankful just to have him in the lineup.

His hard-charging career seemed to have caught up with him as his body started to fail him. "Following Gehrig's retirement, Major League Baseball circumvented its own rules and immediately inducted the former Yankee into its Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The son of German immigrants, Gehrig was the only one of four children to survive.

Gehrig is one of only seven players with more than 100 extra-base hits in one season, and only he and Klein accomplished that feat twice.During his career, Gehrig averaged 147 RBIs a season. There were more than 62,000 fans in attendance as Gehrig stood on the field at Yankee Stadium with the 1927 and 1939 Yankees. Er gilt als einer der erfolgreichsten Spieler in der Geschichte … When baseball scout Paul Krichell saw the Columbia baseball team play, Gehrig’s hitting skills impressed him so much that he signed Gehrig to the Yankees in 1923 with a $1,500 bonus. For the next two years, DiMaggio and Gehrig would dominate the league the way Gehrig and Ruth had, and the Yankees began a four-season dynasty that included winning four World Series and losing only three games out of 19.
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In addition, he made the school's baseball team, pitching solidly for the club and earning the nickname Columbia Lou from adoring fans.