Iron Horse’s cruel blow
QUESTION Was Lou Gehrig’s disease named after its discoverer or an early patient? Lou GehriG was a baseball player with the New York Yankees. Born in 1903, he played his first game for them in 1923 alongside the famous Babe ruth and went on to play in 2,130 consecutive games, a record not matched until 1995.
he was a powerful hitter and earned the nickname iron horse. During his career he set many records, including the Triple Crown in 1934, leading the American league in the three most prestigious categories: home runs scored, batting average and runs batted in. he was a member of Yankees teams which won the World Series on six occasions.
in the early part of the 1939 season, however, his performances were well below his usual standard. he voluntarily withdrew from the team, ending his epic run of consecutive appearances, and underwent medical tests. he was found to be suffering from amytrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or, as it is better known in Britain, motor neurone disease.
There was intense public interest in his plight, and the American media began referring to Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
on July 4, 1939, he made a tearful valedictory speech in front of a huge emotional crowd at Yankee Stadium, telling them that despite his terminal illness, he considered himself ‘the luckiest man on the face of the earth’ for the years he had spent in professional baseball.
The National Baseball League hall of Fame waived its eligibility rules in order to induct him during his lifetime. ‘iron horse’ Lou Gehrig died at home in New York on June 2, 1941, aged 37.
John Hemsworth, Selby, Yorkshire. QUESTION Why was the card game Basset banned in 17th-century France? ThiS period was a gambling hothouse in which were nurtured many of the great card gambling games: faro, trente- etquarante, baccarat, chemin- de-fer and blackjack, as well as several other games which have vanished or now have different f or ms, i ncl uding wit - a nd- r ea s on, bank afalet, gleek, one-and-thirty, boneace and basset.
Basset was the first great ‘banking’ game, said to have been invented by late 16thcentury Venetian nobleman Pietro Cellini. it took italy, Spain and France by storm, wreaking such havoc on the fortunes of the rich that complaints were laid against Cellini, and he was banished to Corsica.
in basset, each player i s dealt 13 cards face-up and may place astake on each. The banker then deals cards face-up alternately into two piles. To start, the banker deals a single card and wins the stakes placed on any cards of the same value.
The banker then deals cards in pairs — for the first card of the pair dealt, the banker wins the stakes placed on any cards of the same value, but for the second card the player wins the value of the stake if the value matches. The dealer continues dealing pairs until all stakes are gone.
The sting in the tail is that when a player wins a stake, instead of taking the money, he can instead leave the stake there, and if he wins a second time, the bank must pay seven times the value of the stake. This can be repeated, with the winnings rising to 15, 30 and 60 times the value of the initial stake. But the chances of winning at those high odds diminishes drastically — and therein lies the loss of many a f ortune and the appalling reputation that basset gained.
richard Seymour, in his improved version of the Compleat Gamester in 1725, said: ‘The dimmest eye may easily see, without a pair of spectacles, how much and considerable the design of this court game is in the favour of the Banker.’
King henry iV of France and Pope Paul V both issued edicts forbidding the game unless the banker was of noble birth, while at public basset tables in France, the stakes were strictly l i mited to the equivalent of 12d. The sums of money lost in France at this game were so considerable that the nobility were in danger of being ruined. it was eventually banned outright in 1691 by Louis XiV.
Basset was replaced by its descendent faro, a similar game but with additional rules, such as the ability to bet for or against a particular rank appearing and half the stake going to the bank when the bank dealt a pair of cards of the same value.
By the 19th century, faro was the world’s most popular casino game, replaced around 1900 by blackjack and baccarat.
Bob Marks, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. QUESTION Does anyone eat sea anemones? FurTher to the earlier answer, anemones are also eaten in southern Spain.
The edible species is called the snakelocks anemone ( Anemonia viridis) which is eaten i n Andalucia and known as ortiguillas de mar (little sea nettles).
The whole animal is marinated in vinegar, coated in a tempura-like batter, and deepfried in olive oil. They have a strong seafood flavour and a texture like fried oysters — and, all in all, are not bad.
Jean Symonds, Telford, Shropshire.
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