The Day the Crowd Fell Silent

80 years later, Lou Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” speech still strikes a poignant chord

Image courtesy of the Wall Street Journal

There is a story from 1925 that is legendary in baseball lore, becoming as much fact as it is fiction. Wally Pipp, the veteran first baseman for the New York Yankees, arrived at the ballpark on June 2nd with a splitting headache. Pipp’s manager told him to take the day off, letting Pipp’s backup start the game instead.