Lot # 976: July 4th, 1941 Lou Gehrig Memorial Ticket Stub

Give in to sentiment, as you regard the offered 1941 "Lou Gehrig Memorial" ticket stub. On July 4, 1939, the New York Yankees held "Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day" at Yankee Stadium. Amid the honors, emotional speeches, and tremendous fanfare, Gehrig became the first MLB player to have his uniform number retired. Twenty-three months later, the "Iron Horse" pulled out of the station for good, succumbing to ALS disease on June 2, 1941.

Two years to the day after Gehrig delivered his heartfelt "luckiest man on the face of the earth" speech, and one month after his demise, the Yankees planned another tribute for July 4, 1941, billed as the "Lou Gehrig Memorial" game. This game was rained out and rescheduled as part of a double-header on July 6, 1941. The beloved Gehrig was posthumously awarded with another baseball first, when the Yankees unveiled their first ever monument that day.

Graced with a cordial photo of Gehrig, the offered ticket stub technically rates as Pr, but still presents attractively. In the midst of his renowned 56-game record hitting streak at the time, Gehrig's former teammate Joe DiMaggio went 4/5 in the first game, and 2/4 in the second game of this double-header, suggesting he was pretty fired up by the day's activities.