Lou Gehig, the baseball player.

Abstract

The Roaring Twenties of this country was a time when the entire sports world blew up into the major worldwide business that it is now. Baseball was one sport that really profited from the country's sporting obsession, and baseball became one of the most popular sporting events to attend. Not only was it a game played by adults but, it was also a family event that entire families could go to. By the beginning of the decade baseball had its first $100,000 deal when George Herman Ruth was traded from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $125,000. The game became more than a game, it became a business. It was the emergence of the superstar, and players were making a living off of being a professional baseball player. Babe Ruth became more than a player he became an idol that was more noticeable than the President of the United States.(Kashatus,2004)

Introduction

Lou Gehrig was born and raised in New York City, the son of German immigrant parents. His full name was Henry Louis Gehrig. After graduating from high school, he attended Columbia University where he became a football and baseball star. Lou's father directed him to becoming a pro baseball player. He became sick and needed on operation, but there was no money for doctors and hospital expenses in the family budget, so young Lou quickly capitalized on his baseball skills. He accepted an offer from a scout to sign a contract with the New York Yankees, for $ 1,500 in cash as a bonus. Lou dropped out of college to play in the minor leagues and gain some experience until the Yankees needed him.(Greenberg,2004) Discussion

Gehrig was 22 when he became a big league rookie. He sat on the bench until one day in June in the 1925 season when he finally broke into the Yankees' line up as a first baseman. It happened because the team's veteran first baseman couldn't play because of a sever headache. He stayed first baseman for fourteen seasons, five thousand eighty-two playing days, he played a total of two thousand, one hundred and thirty major league games. It was a record that will never be broken or even equaled. (Robinson,1990)

To create that unbelievable endurance, feat, strong and powerful Lou Gehrig nicknamed "The Iron Horse," played in every one of the two thousand, one hundred and thirty consecutive games, ...