Tag: Lou Gehrig

Lou Gehrig Day Yankee Stadium, July 4, 1939

As we celebrate our nation’s Independence Day those of us who are endeared to baseball, our national pastime, also know that this date has another profound significance. It was 85 years ago this day that Lou Gehrig, the Hall-of -Fame first baseman, gave his farewell speech at Yankee Stadium sadly ending his stellar 17-year career. It is beyond my ability to describe the poignancy of Gehrig’s words so I will leave that to one of my favorite poets, Ed Romond and his wonderful poem:

Lou Gehrig Day Yankee Stadium, July 4, 1939

He was scared and did not want to speak to 62,000 people.

Maybe he felt facing death was enough to endure but

they kept calling his name till he stepped up to the mic

and gave 278 words of thank you and goodbye. His body trembled

as he spoke with the voice of a dying man still strong enough

to unlock his heart before thousands and let them all come in.

The poem was dedicated to BJ Ward. You can find this poem and many other excellent poems in:

Home Team Poems About Baseball

By Edwin Romond

Published by Grayson Books

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

The 49ers of Major League Baseball

A lot has been made of Aaron Judge’s remarkable season. He recently blew past the 50-home run mark and all eyes are upon him as he heads towards 60. But what about all those sluggers who made it all the way to 49 home runs and never got to that milestone number 50.

A review of the 49er’s list includes some of baseball’s best hitters.

Lou Gehrig

Lou Gehrig reached 49 twice in 1934 and 1936, as did Harmon Killebrew in 1964 and 1969.

Frank Robinson

Frank Robinson hit 49 home runs in his 1966 Triple Crown season. Ted Kluszewski blasted 49 in 1954. Larry Walker clubbed 49 round trippers in 1997.

The slugfest year of 2001, when Barry Bonds led the way with his record shattering 73 home runs, also provided 3 members of the 49ers Club; Shawn Green, Todd Helton and Jim Thome.

Eugenio Suarez who is still active hit 49 homers in 2019.

And finally, there is future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols who has belted 40 or more home runs in seven seasons topping out with 49 in 2006.

Albert Pujols

Quite an extraordinary, though overlooked achievement, by a group of some great Major League sluggers.