Lou Gehrig

AKA:

The Iron Horse

Birth Name:

Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig

Birth Date:

June 19, 1903

Birth Place:

New York, New York

Death Date:

June 2, 1941

Place of Death:

5204 Delafield Avenue, New York, New York

Age:

Cause of Death:

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease)

Cemetery Name:

Kensico Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Sports

Associates:

Voted the greatest first baseman of all time, Lou Gehrig was a member of the NY Yankees baseball team and nicked named the Iron Horse for 2,170 consecutive games played over a 17 year career. Fans and teammates were stunned when when he voluntarily took himself out of the lineup after his performance on the field became hampered by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable neuromuscular illness. He died less than 2 years later at the young age of 37.

Lou Gehrig by the numbers:

2,170 consecutive games played
17 seasons with the NY Yankees
23 career grand slams
.340 batting average
.632 slugging average
.447 on base average
493 home runs
1,995 runs batted in (RBI)
35.08 ratio of runs scored plus runs batted in per 100 plate appearances

A member of six World Series champion teams, Gehrig was also an All-Star seven consecutive times, a Triple Crown winner once and an American League Most Valuable Player twice.

When Eleanor, Lou’s wife, made a catty remark regarding Claire Ruth’s choice of clothing for her daughter, Babe Ruth refused to speak to Lou Gehrig for six years. It was on July 4, 1939, Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day, when the longtime Yankee first baseman uttered the famous words at a home plate ceremony at Yankee Stadium: “For the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” After Gehrig gave his “luckiest man” speech at Yankee Stadium, Babe Ruth threw his arms around the Gehrig and they spoke for the first time in six years.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Kensico Cemetery

273 Lakeview Avenue

Valhalla, New York, 10595

USA

North America

Map:

Map of Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.

Grave Location:

Section 93, Lot 12686

Grave Location Description

From the main entrance go straight on Tecumsah Avenue, take a left onto Cherokee Avenue and then a quick right onto Ossipee Avenue. Go straight and stay to the right when the road splits. When Ossippe Avenue merges into a single road park to the side. Walk to the left and Lou Gehrig’s monument and bench are about 150 feet into Section 93.

Interestingly enough Lou Gehrig was cremated and his ashes were placed into the center of the monument.