Luckiest Man
“Eig's triumph lies not only in illuminating the man, bringing out his full, human tragedy, but also in framing the America Gehrig lived in—both a harder and a more innocent place, where ballplayers were considered barely a notch above carnies, but would sing '’The Sidewalks of New York’ after winning a World Series and give a teammate a trophy with a poem inscribed on it. Eig is obviously knowledgeable about baseball, and doesn’t slight the game, but nonfans will find this story captivating nonetheless. Luckiest Man stands in the first rank of sports biographies.”
New York Times
Lou Gehrig is regarded as the greatest first baseman in baseball history. A muscular but clumsy athlete who grew up in New York City, he idolized his hardworking mother and remained devoted to her all his life. Shy and socially awkward, Gehrig was a misfit on a Yankee team that included drinkers and hell-raisers, most notably Babe Ruth.
Gehrig and Ruth formed the greatest slugging tandem in baseball history. They were the heart of the first great Yankee dynasty. After Ruth's retirement, Gehrig and a young Joe DiMaggio would begin a new era of Yankee dominance. But Luckiest Man reveals that Gehrig was afflicted with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) much sooner than anyone believes, as early as the spring of 1938. Despite the illness, he didn't miss a game that year, keeping intact his astonishing consecutive-games streak, which stood for more than half a century.
In Luckiest Man, Jonathan Eig brings to life a figure whose shyness and insecurity obscured his greatness during his lifetime. Gehrig emerges as more human and more heroic than ever.
Praise