Lou Gehrig was such an exemplary ballplayer and man that more than 50 years after his death, he is still baseball`s ultimate role model: quiet, dignified, modest and extraordinarily durable and prolific on the field.
They are traits shared, in large measure, by Henry Aaron, baseball`s home-run and RBI king.
Ironically, Gehrig`s and Aaron`s steadiness and lack of flamboyance meant they were overshadowed during much of their careers: in Gehrig`s case by Babe Ruth; in Aaron`s by Willie Mays, even though it turned out to be Aaron who broke Ruth`s home-run mark.
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”Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time,” Ray Robinson`s biography of the strait-laced pride of the Yankees, tells of Gehrig`s life from his childhood on the sidewalks of New York until his death in 1941 at age 37 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as Lou Gehrig`s disease. The book is available unabridged from Books on Tape (eight hours, $16.50 rental, $48 purchase) in a straightforward reading by Jay Robertson.
How good was Gehrig? He hit more than .370 three times and averaged 153 RBIs during a stretch of 11 seasons, including an astounding 184 in 1930, which still stands as the American League record.
He was so good that in the year before his illness was discovered and forced his retirement, he hit 29 home runs, had 114 RBIs and batted .295. It staggers the mind to think what a player of his caliber would get as a free agent in today`s market.
”I Had a Hammer,” which Aaron wrote with the assistance of Lonnie Walker, tells of the star`s rise from a segregated Mobile, Ala., to his glory years with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves and, finally, to the top of a baseball world that still has enormous difficulty dealing with the successes of its black players.
Not that American society as a whole has been doing any better: The hate mail that Aaron got in the early 1970s as he pursued Ruth`s record is deeply disturbing.
The book is available in abridged form from Harper Audio (three hours, $15.95) with a heartfelt introduction and conclusion read by Aaron. The rest of the reading-including examples of the hate mail-is expertly handled by Courtney Vance.