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Lou Gehrig Photo Gallery
Was Lou Gehrig Ever Ejected From a Game? Hard to Believe But the Answer Is Yes!
It actually happened. Ninety-three years ago today, June 14, 1933, umpire Bill Summers ejected Lou Gehrig from a game after a close call at second base. The incident occurred in the seventh inning of a game at Fenway Park against the Red Sox in which the Yankees lost in lopsided fashion, 13-5.
It’s hard to believe that Lou – never known to use coarse language – could have gotten under Summers’ skin to such a degree that he ejected the great Yankee star. The “heated” conversation at second – a rarity from the normally mild-mannered Gehrig – probably went something along these lines: “Dagnabbit, Bill, com’on. You know I was safe. When was the last time you had your eyes checked anyhow?” For the normally stoic Gehrig, this was the equivalent of any other player throwing out a bunch of f-bombs!
Maybe Summers got up on the wrong side of the bed that day. Or maybe he was so shocked to hear Lou’s reaction that he lost his cool. Whatever the cause, apparently even this mild display was enough for Summers to send Lou to the showers! Summers goes into the record book as the only umpire to eject Lou Gehrig from a major league game.
Yankee manager Joe McCarthy, sensing that Lou was (for him) on the verge of falling into uncharted waters, rushed out of the dugout before Lou said something really bad that he’d surely regret. Joe did his job, protected his star player, and also got the thumb from Summers. What’s really interesting is that McCarty was suspended for three games, while Gehrig got off scot-free with no suspension. I guess his even-tempered reputation saved him from further damage.
Fortunately, this had the effect of keeping Lou’s “Iron Man” consecutive game streak alive, which, at the time, stood at 1,249. Had he been suspended, his streak would, of course, have ended that day, leaving him 58 games behind the then all-time leader, teammate Everett “Deacon” Scott. Today, he’d just be in third place, behind Cal Ripkin, Jr. and Scott.
The umpire in question, Bill Summers, was in the first year of a distinguished 26-year umpiring career in the American League. So maybe we should cut him some slack. He went on to umpire seven All-Star games and eight World Series, tying the American League record shared by three others.
Wouldn’t you just love to know what Lou actually said to Bill Summers that got him into such hot water!
Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: All found on Google search
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