Lou Gehrig, 1903-1941: The Great Baseball Player Considered Himself 'The Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth'

He played in 2,130 games without missing one. Transcript of radio broadcast: 
 
ANNOUNCER:

Now, the VOA Special English program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA.

A North American Major League baseball record was established in nineteen thirty-nine. The man who set it played in two thousand one hundred thirty games without missing one. In nineteen ninety-five, the record was broken by Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles. But there is not much chance that the man who set the first record will be forgotten.

Today Shirley Griffith and Steve Ember tell about Lou Gehrig whose record lasted for fifty-six years.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:
　
Lou Gehrig

Lou Gehrig was born on June nineteenth, nineteen-oh-three. He was a huge baby. He weighed six-and-one-third kilograms. His parents, Heinrich and Christina Gehrig, had come to America from Germany. They worked hard. But they always had trouble earning enough money.

Lou loved to play baseball games on the streets of New York City, where he grew up. Yet he did not try to play on any sports teams when he entered high school. He thought of himself as a ball player only for informal games with friends.

Then one of Lou's high school teachers heard that he could hit the ball very hard. The teacher ordered Lou to come to one of the school games.

VOICE TWO:

Years later, Lou said: "When I saw so many people and heard all the noise at the game, I was so scared I went home." The teacher threatened to fail Lou in school if he did not attend the next game.

So Lou Gehrig went to that game. He became a valued member of the high school team. He also played other sports. The boy who feared noise and people was on his way to becoming a star baseball player.

VOICE ONE:

A representative of a major league team, the New York Giants, came to watch him. He got Lou a chance to play for the manager of the Giants' team, John McGraw. McGraw thought Gehrig needed more experience before becoming a major league player. It was suggested that Lou get that experience on a minor league team in the city of Hartford, Connecticut.

Lou played in Hartford that summer after completing high school. He earned money to help his parents. His father was often sick and without a job.

[1] [2] [3] 下一页