Gehrig Replaces Pipp: The Start of a Legendary Streak
Yankees manager Miller Huggins started Lou Gehrig at first base on June 2, 1925, replacing Wally Pipp, who had a headache. The popular story says Pipp simply took a day off and never got his position back, but the reality is more complex: Pipp had been in a slump and Gehrig had been pinch-hitting regularly. Huggins had been planning the change. Gehrig played every game for the next 14 years, amassing 2,130 consecutive games. The coincidence that Gehrig died exactly 16 years later, on June 2, 1941, adds an eerie symmetry. Pipp was traded to Cincinnati in 1926 and played three more seasons. He bore no grudge against Gehrig and attended his funeral. The story of losing a job over a headache became one of baseball's most enduring cautionary tales.
June 2, 1925
101 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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