The story of Lou Gehrig is the story of one who not only was a great ball player but, by the very pattern of his life, became a symbol of courage and decency and kindness to millions who were not interested in baseball. He was not a dramatic figure in the sense that Babe Ruth was dramatic, yet his career was a sustained drama from his boyhood on the sidewalks and sandlots of New York to his tragic death at the age of thirty-eight.

His was the storybook life of the poor boy who, by the hardest kind of work, became rich and famous and brought luxury to his parents, who had deprived themselves of even necessities to feed and clothe and educate him. He first came to public notice when, as a member of the High School of Commerce baseball team, he hit a home run out of Wrigley Field in Chicago to win an intercity championship game. Three years later, playing with Columbia University, he attracted the attention of scouts for most of the major league clubs and was signed by the Yankees. Two years later—in 1925—he began his astonishing endurance record that ran through 2,130 consecutive games.

None of the feats that he performed came easily to him. He had to take the hard way and the long way around to all his triumphs. An awkward first baseman in the beginning, he became one of the most skillful in the history of the game. Unable to hit curve ball pitching as a high school player, he learned to powder curve balls. Naturally shy, he acquired poise on and off the field. He was at the peak of his career when he was attacked by the rare disease that brought death to him so swiftly. Once the true nature of it was made known to him, he knew that he was doomed and his courage in the face of certain death aroused the sympathy of the nation.

For boys, for baseball fans, for the young in spirit of any age, this story of Lou Gehrig must prove and unending source of inspiration.

From the dust jacket