Straight from the Iron Horse’s mouth

Gehrig newspaper lumns rediscovered in ‘Lost Memoir’

“Lou Gehrig: The Lost Memoir,” by historian Alan D. Gaff, includes a collection of first-person syndicated newspaper columns by the Yankees legend himself. This is an excerpt.

THE SO-CALLED “home run derby” of 1927 is over. The winner is Babe Ruth. And no one is hapDuring pier than myself. the season, the newspapers have been more than kind to me. They have compared me to the Babe; they have called me the “new home run king”; they have given me the kindliest sort of criticism. For which I am grateful — but — and this is honest — I never expected to beat the Babe in honors, and I never expected to break that 1921 record. After all is said and done, there is just one Babe. He stands alone and incomparable. He is the greatest slugger of all time, and in my humble opinion, there will never be another like him.

Unless he breaks it himself, I believe that the 1921 record of fifty-nine home runs in a season will stand forever. I hope it does.*

I owe much to the Babe. He has advised me and taught me and helped me more than I can tell. At times during the season, when I was leading him in home runs, the opinion prevailed that there was a feud between Babe and myself. Nothing could be further from the truth. When I would hit one, Babe would be the first to congratulate me.

In private and in public, he has always been my best booster.

And I really believe he is as delighted when I succeed in breaking a record or establishing a new mark as I am myself. There is nothing small, nothing selfish about the Babe.

And now a word about home run hitting. If the ball goes in the bleachers, well and good. If it goes for a single that scores a run, better still. I am proud of my record for driving in runs. I think I have a right to be. And if I live to be ninety and play baseball every day of that time, I will still get a thrill when I pound