Good day all!
On the blog today, we add the great, if not
greatest, first baseman of them all, Lou Gehrig, to my on-going "Minor
League Days: Legends Edition" set, which I hope to print up as a custom
release later in the year:
We see the young
future legend suited up with the Hartford Senators of the Eastern
League, for whom he played parts of three seasons with between 1921 and
1924.
Of the stats available from that tenure, we see Gehrig
already showing signs of what he would do once he made it to a Big
League field, as he hit .369 with 37 homers and 186 hits in 1924 over
134 games at the age of 21.
Of course, once he DID make it up
to the Majors for good in 1925, he was there to stay, putting together
one of the greatest careers a ballplayer would have.
His
statistics are mind-blowing, as he would drive in 100+ runs 13 straight
seasons, with a high of 185 in 1931 which is still the American League
record.
He would score 100+ runs 13 straight seasons with a high of 167 in 1936 when he took home an MVP Award.
He
would top 200+ hits eight times over his 14 full seasons, with 40+
doubles seven times, 10+ triples nine times, a .350+ batting average six
times, 400+ total bases a ridiculous five times, and a Triple Crown in
1934 when he hit .363 with 49 homers and 166 RBIs.
Again, just ridiculous numbers, and especially so remembering that Babe Ruth batted AHEAD of him for most of his career!
Certainly MY favorite player of all-time.
If only we could have had him play out his career naturally, and not lose him to ALS at the young age of 37 in 1941.
