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1931 Lou Gehrig Single Signed Home Run Baseball - 37th of the Season & 224th of His Career!...
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Gehrig blast brings home the Babe in Boston...
1931 Lou Gehrig Single Signed Home Run Baseball - 37th of the
Season & 224th of His Career! Even though the Bombers finished
thirteen games behind Mack's Men in the chase for the American
League flag in 1931, Lou Gehrig turned in a season for the ages,
batting .341 and leading the league in hits (211), runs (163), and
total bases (410). He also set a new Junior Circuit mark with 185
RBI, which still stands to present day. Furthermore, he and The
Babe finished the season tied for the home run leadership with
forty-six.Actually, Gehrig should have won the home run title singularly, as he hit forty-seven dingers, but had one disallowed when teammate Lyn Lary left the base path, thinking it was an out, and Gehrig was ruled out for passing the runner. If that wasn't bad enough, Lou's salary was decreased, from $25,000 to $23,000, by Yankees general manager Ed Barrow after the season because of losses incurred by The Great Depression. Imagine getting your salary cut after knocking in 185 runs.
The game used baseball presented here was launched by Gehrig into the cheap seats on August 30, 1931 versus the Boston Red Sox at Braves Field. Intriguingly, the Red Sox were forced to play their Sunday home games at the National League park between 1929 (when Sunday baseball began in Boston) and midseason of 1932 due to a ruling that disallowed those Sunday games to be played within one hundred yards of a church, where Fenway Park stood. Eventually, the minister of that church was asked if he cared and he replied that he did not, as the games started after services ended. The first Sunday game at Fenway was thus played on July 3, 1932.
The Yanks annihilated the Sox 14-4 on this earlier Sunday at Braves Field from which the offered sphere derives, with Lou going 4-6 with three runs scored and four RBI's. The home run was Gehrig's thirty-seventh of the season and the 224th of his legendary career.
The Iron Horse signs a side panel of this OAL (Harridge) sphere in faded but very legible steel-tip blue fountain pen. Meanwhile, a separate panel bears a vintage inscription, in an unknown hand, which reads: "New York 14, Red Sox 4, 37th Home Run Scoring Babe Ruth, Sunday August 30, 1931."
It should go without saying that Lou Gehrig home run baseballs are extremely scarce, far more so than those of his iconic teammate Babe Ruth. To own one that dates from a game and season in which the Iron Horse performed so exceptionally, even by his own lofty standards, is truly something special. LOA from Heritage Auctions. Full LOA from PSA/DNA.
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