1934-1936 Diamond Stars: #111 Lou Gehrig

Sunday, February 14, 2021

#111 Lou Gehrig - New York Yankees

Henry Louis Gehrig

New York Yankees

First Base

Bats: Left Throws: Right Height: 6'0" Weight: 200

Born: June 19, 1903, Bronx, NY

Major League Teams: New York Yankees 1923-1939

World Series Appearances: New York Yankees 1926-1928, 1932, 1936-1938

Died: June 2, 1941, Bronx, NY (37)

Hall of Fame Induction: 1939

One of the greatest baseball players of all time, Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse, was a dominant offensive force for the Yankees' dynasty in the 1920s and 1930s before the disease that now bears his name claimed his life. Gehrig was the A.L. MVP in 1927 and 1936, and won the triple crown in 1934. He was a seven-time All-Star and a six-time World Champion batting .361 over seven World Series appearances. Gehrig led the league five times in RBIs and his 1,995 career total is currently 7th all-time. His .340 lifetime batting average is 17th all-time. At one time, he sat atop the all-time list for grand slams with 23 (a record since broken by Alex Rodriguez) and consecutive games played with 2,130 (broken by Cal Ripken, Jr. in 1995).

Gehrig retired as a result of the debilitating effects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) giving his iconic "Luckiest man on the face of the Earth" speech at Yankee Stadium in 1939. He became the first player to have his uniform number retired when the Yankees retired his #4, and the Hall of Fame inducted him via special election in 1939 as well. In 1999, Gehrig was the leading vote-getter for the MLB All-Century Team.

Building the Set

December 22, 2020 from McKeesport, PA (Steel City Collectibles)

In 2014, the third and final "extended" set of Diamond Stars cards was released, repeating three of the players available in the 1993 extended set, including Gehrig, and adding a pair of cards for Babe Ruth (#109b and #110b). According to this article, the five cards were made available at the 2014 National Sports Collectors Convention (NSCC) held in Cleveland between July 30 and August 3, 2014. The cards were originally slabbed by PSA, numbered to 500, and given away to collectors when they signed up for a Gold or Platinum level PSA Collectors Club membership.

Steel City Collectibles was selling a lot of four of these five-card sets on eBay for the reasonable price of $17.95 before Christmas, and I eagerly added these cards to my collection. One set now lives in my Diamond Stars set binder and another set made its way into my oldest son's Doug's collection. That leaves me with two extra sets looking for a good home or homes.

I wish PSA and the sponsor of these sets, Historic Autograph Company, had paid attention to the extended sets issued earlier. Instead of repeating card numbers 109 to 113, they could have started with card number 154, picking up where the 1993 extended set had left off.

Variations Available

1 - 2014 / green back / 1935 statistics / 2014 copyright

The Card / Yankees Team Set

Both Gehrig and Ruth are glaring omissions from the original Diamond Stars set, and the silver lining to those omissions is that the set becomes more attainable because of their absence. As noted in the Anson Whaley article on the set in the December 2020/January 2021 issue of Beckett Vintage Collector, some collectors assume the reason for the two sluggers' omission is an exclusive contract with Goudey. Whatever the case for Gehrig being left out of the original set, this "what if" card is a welcome addition to the Diamond Stars lineage. The back of the card provides a fielding tip for first baseman, and notes that Gehrig's numbers slipped a bit in 1935 after the team released Ruth.

1936 Season

Gehrig was still a powerhouse, winning his second MVP award. He led the league in runs scored (167), home runs (49), walks (130), on-base percentage (.478) and slugging percentage (.696) while driving in 152 runs. The Yankees made it back to the World Series after a four-year absence, defeating the Giants in six games. Gehrig hit a key home run in Game 4 off the Giants' Carl Hubbell (#39), giving the Yankees a 4-0 lead in a game they'd eventually win.