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Lou Gehrig consoles Babe Dahlgren
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A Sad Day In Baseball History
The Yankees won the game that day, but nobody cheered…
May 2, 1939 will always remain one of the saddest days in baseball history. Lou Gehrig took himself out of the Yankee line-up before a game at Detroit between the Tigers and the Yankees, and his 14-year, 2,130 consecutive games streak finally came to an end. Babe Dahlgren, the man who replaced the “iron Horse”, was stunned by the news, and needed some encouragement from Lou before he could take the field.
The Man Who Replaced Lou Gehrig:
Babe Dahlgren
Babe Dahlgren is shown with Lou Gehrig in the first photo before taking the field and officially ending Gehrig’s streak.
On that day Dahlgren had a homer and double in the Yankees’ 22-2 rout of the Tigers. He went on to hit 15 home runs and drive in 89 runs for the season. His career spanned 12 years and he hit .261 with 82 home runs and 569 RBIs. Dahlgren was known as a slick-fielding first baseman and was considered by many the best defensive first basemen of his era.
Babe Dahlgren with Yankee teammaed George Selkrik
After discovering the existence of the rumor in 1943, Dahlgren became the first major league baseball player to take a drug test for a non-performance enhancing drug. He did so voluntarily to discredit the rumors circulating at the time. The tests were all negative, refuting the charges of marijuana use. Dahlgren spent decades trying to uncover the source of the rumor and to clear his name, a crusade that was later picked up by his grandson, Matt Dahlgren who pinned it upon Joe McCarthy.
Babe Dahlgren shown with Red SOx teammates and roommate, Mel Almada
UPDATE: See the comments setion below for an explanation as to why McCarthy started this rumor about Babe Dahlgren.
-Gary Livacari
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Photo Credits: “Greats of the Game” by Ray Robinson; and The Boston Public Library Leslie Jones Collection.
Information from the Babe Dahlgren Wikipedia page and from “Rumor in Town,” by Matt Dahlgren.
Some of you have asked why McCarthy started this rumor about Babe Dahlgren. Here’s what Matt Dahlgren told me about it: It’s a bit confusing but it had to do with the feud between McCarthy and Lefty O’Doul in the 1930’s. Apparently McCarthy was jealous of O’Doul’s growing popularity and many people thought O’Doul should be the Yankee manager. He was even real tight with Joe DiMaggio. He was also thought to be the best hitting instructor in the country. When Dahlgren innocently sought out O’Doul at Joe DiMaggio’s wedding in San Francisco in 1939 for help with his swing, the press picked up on it, and headlines like this appeared in NY: “O’Doul helps Dahlgren.” When McCarthy heard about it, he was fuming and thought Dahlgren made him look bad. “Why is he going to O’Doul for help instead of his manager?” From that point on McCarthy held a grudge against him and was looking for a way to get rid of him, even though he was the only bonafide first baseman the Yankees had and was coming off a good regular season and an outstanding World Series. Dahlgren knew his days were numbered in New York from that point. The thought was that McCarthy started the marijuana rumor as a way to get rid of him.