FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Henry Louis Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig; June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned for his prowess as a hitter and for his durability, which earned him his nickname “the Iron Horse“. He was an All-Star seven consecutive times, a Triple Crown winner once, an American League (AL) Most Valuable Player twice, and a member of six World Series champion teams. He had a career .340 batting average, .632 slugging average, and a .447 on base average. He hit 493 home runs and had 1,995 runs batted in (RBI). He still has the highest ratio of runs scored plus runs batted in per 100 plate appearances (35.08) and per 100 games (156.7) among Hall of Fame players. In 1939, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and was the first MLB player to have his uniform number (4) retired by a team.

A native of New York City and a student at Columbia University, Gehrig signed with the Yankees on April 29, 1923. He set several major-league records during his career, including the most career grand slams (23; since broken by Alex Rodriguez) and most consecutive games played (2,130), a record that stood for 56 years and was long considered unbreakable until surpassed by Cal Ripken Jr., in 1995. Gehrig’s consecutive game streak ended on May 2, 1939, when he voluntarily took himself out of the lineup, stunning both players and fans, after his performance on the field became hampered by an undiagnosed ailment subsequently confirmed to be amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable neuromuscular illness; it is now commonly referred to in North America as “Lou Gehrig’s disease”.

The disease forced him to retire at age 36, and claimed his life two years later. The pathos of his farewell from baseball was capped off by his iconic 1939 “Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth” speech at Yankee Stadium. In 1969, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voted Gehrig the greatest first baseman of all time, and he was the leading vote-getter on the MLB All-Century Team chosen by fans in 1999. A monument in Gehrig’s honor, originally dedicated by the Yankees in 1941, currently resides in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. The Lou Gehrig Memorial Award is given annually to the MLB player who best exhibits Gehrig’s integrity and character.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

Should I store coffee beans in the freezer to keep them fresh?

The most important thing in coffee bean storage is to keep out air and moisture, so be sure to store your beans in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. Freezing becomes necessary if you are not likely to use your beans quickly. For freezing, store them in freezer bags. You can grind the beans in their frozen state.

Advice of the Day

A dripping June brings all things in tune.

Home Hint of the Day

To dry flowers, cut them at or just before their peak of bloom. Be sure to leave the stems long. Remove the foliage and hang the flowers upside down in a dry, dark place for several weeks, or until they’re dry.

Word of the Day

Auroraphobia

Fear of the northern lights

Puzzle of the Day

My number, definite and known, is ten times ten, told ten times o’er;Though half of me is one alone, and half exceeds all count and score.

Thousands

Born

• Jefferson Davis (president of the Confederacy) – 1808
• Ransom Eli Olds (automobile manufacturer) – 1864
• Roland Hayes (tenor) – 1887
• Tony Curtis (actor) – 1925
• Allen Ginsburg (poet) – 1926
• Francis Frank” Gouin” (plant physiologist) – 1938
• Anderson Cooper (television journalist) – 1967
• Lalaine Vergara-Paras (actress) – 1987

Died

• Johann Strauss, the Younger (composer) – 1899
• The Marquess of Lansdowne (Canadian Governor General 1883-1888) – 1927
• Pope John XXIII – 1963
• Ozzie Nelson (actor) – 1975
• Lew Wasserman (old time movie mogul) – 2002
• David Carradine (actor) – 2009
• Rue McClanahan (actress) – 2010
• Dr. Jack Kevorkian (pathologist known as Dr. Death” due to his role in assisting the suicides of terminally ill people”) – 2011
• Muhammad Ali (boxer) – 2016

Events

• John Adams became the first U.S. president to live in Washington, D.C..– 1800
• The poem Casey at the Bat” was published in the San Francisco Examiner”– 1888
• The New York Times won its first Pulitzer Prize– 1918
• Ernest Poole became the first to win a Pulitzer Prize in the category of novels (now known as fiction)– 1918
• Baseball player Lou Gehrig hit 4 home runs in 1 game– 1932
• Astronaut Edward H. White II was the first American to perform a spacewalk” when he stepped outside of his spacecraft Gemini 4”– 1965
• The Royal Canadian Mint announced that nickel would replace silver in coins– 1968
• Sally Jane Priesand became the first American female to be ordained as a rabbi– 1972
• Frances Bay, James Cameron, k.d. lang, The Kids in the Hall, Steve Nash, and Daria Werbowy were announced as being inducted into the Canada Walk of Fame– 2008

Weather

• Early hurricane wreaked havoc along the Atlantic coast from June 3 through 5.– 1825
• Seattle received 1.42 inches of rain within 24 hours, a June record– 1905
• Flood caused major devastation in Pueblo, Colorado– 1921
• Golfball-size hail fell in northeast Colorado– 2002

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