Lou Gehrig Timeline

In 1936, at his wife's urging, Gehrig auditioned for the role of Tarzan in the independent film Tarzan's Revenge. Producer Sol Lesser passed on him, and the role went to Olympic decathlon gold medalist Glenn Morris.

Image source: Tarzan's Revenge

Gehrig starred in the 1938 20th Century Fox film Rawhide, playing himself in his only feature-film appearance. Researchers later determined he showed no visible ALS symptoms when it was shot in January 1938.

Image source: Rawhide (1938 film)

At age 36, Gehrig was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on December 7, 1939, in a special election related to his illness, becoming the youngest player so honored at the time.

Image source: National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

The Yankees dedicated a monument to Gehrig in center field at Yankee Stadium on July 6, 1941, lauding him as "A man, a gentleman and a great ballplayer whose amazing record of 2,130 consecutive games should stand for all time."

Image source: Monument Park (Yankee Stadium)

Gehrig's life was the subject of the 1942 film The Pride of the Yankees, starring Gary Cooper as Gehrig and Teresa Wright as his wife Eleanor. In 2008, the AFI honored it as the third-best sports movie.

Image source: The Pride of the Yankees

In 1969, the Baseball Writers' Association of America voted Gehrig the greatest first baseman of all time.

Image source: Baseball Writers' Association of America

Sixty years after his farewell to baseball, Gehrig received the most votes of any baseball player on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team chosen by fans in 1999. That same year, Sporting News ranked him sixth among Baseball's 100 Greatest Players.

Image source: Major League Baseball All-Century Team

As symptoms of an undiagnosed ailment began affecting him midway through the 1938 season, Gehrig stole his last two bases on September 7, 1938, and had his last extra-base hit, a home run, on September 27, 1938.

Gehrig played his last game for the Yankees on April 30, 1939, ending his streak of appearing in every Yankees game since June 2, 1925, as his coordination deteriorated from what would be diagnosed as ALS.

Gehrig's consecutive game streak ended on May 2, 1939, when he voluntarily took himself out of the lineup, stunning both players and fans. The record of 2,130 consecutive games stood until Cal Ripken Jr. surpassed it on September 6, 1995.

Gehrig flew alone to Rochester and arrived at the Mayo Clinic on June 13, 1939. Staff released his diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), then incurable, to the public on June 19, 1939, his 36th birthday.

Image source: ALS

Two weeks after retiring, Gehrig delivered his famous speech declaring himself the "luckiest man on the face of the earth" at Yankee Stadium during Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day before 61,808 fans. The New York Times called it perhaps the most colorful pageant ever enacted on a baseball field.

Image source: Lou Gehrig

In October 1939, Gehrig accepted Mayor Fiorello La Guardia's appointment to a ten-year term as New York City parole commissioner. After moving from New Rochelle to Riverdale to satisfy a residency requirement, he was sworn into office on January 2, 1940.

Image source: Fiorello La Guardia

On June 2, 1941, 17 days before his 38th birthday, Gehrig died at his home at 5204 Delafield Avenue in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx. He was interred in Kensico Cemetery, where Eleanor later joined him after her death on March 6, 1984.