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Lou Gehrig (Louis Gehrig)[gAr´ig] Pronunciation Key, 1903–41, American baseball player, b. New York City. He studied at Columbia. As the first baseman (1925–39) for the New York Yankees, Gehrig played in 2,130 consecutive league games (setting a record that stood until 1995, when it was broken by Cal Ripken, Jr.), batted .361 in seven World Series, and broke many other major-league records. The "Iron Horse," as he was known to admirers, had a lifetime batting average of .340, and his 493 home runs rank him among the game's best. He four times won the Most Valuable Player award. Stricken by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a rare type of paralysis since often referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, Gehrig retired from baseball in 1939 and served (1940–41) as a parole commissioner in New York City. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.
See K. Brandt, Lou Gehrig: Pride of the Yankees (1985).
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