1934-1936 Diamond Stars: #130 Lou Gehrig

Sunday, July 4, 2021

#130 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 16, 2020 from Albion, NY

Within days of officially deciding to collect the Diamond Stars set, I found myself searching for the 1993 extension set consisting of 36 more "what if" cards this time issued by the Chicle Fantasy Company. Individual cards from this set are very prevalent on eBay, but I wanted to buy a complete set to save myself some time and money. Given this is a relatively modern set, I was somewhat surprised at the closing auction prices for previously sold complete sets and I was happy to win my set at a lower price. These cards are gorgeous, and I can tell a lot of hard work and love for the originals went into making this tribute set. What's more, the set's creators were smart enough to start the numbering with card #120, given the 1981 extension set had left off with #120.

As I slowly collect the originals from the 1930s, I'll also highlight each of the cards from these extension sets with their own posts.

Variations Available

1 - 1993 / blue back / no statistics / 1993 copyright

The Card / Yankees Team Set

Both Gehrig and Babe Ruth (#110b) 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. This is the first of two "what if" cards issued for Gehrig with the second card featured here and released in 2014.

The back of this card references that Gehrig was hitting around .380 with 40 home runs at the time of it's imagined issuance, meaning the card's imaginary release date would have been around August 23, 1936 when Gehrig had 40 home runs and was batting .381.

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.