This Day in Baseball History

1938 - Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig plays in his 2000th consecutive game

Beginning on June 1, 1925, New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig began the second longest consecutive games played streak in Major League Baseball history.  

On May 31, 1938, the Hall of Famer would hit a major milestone during the streak, as the Yankees 20th win of the season was overshadowed by Gehrig making his 2000th consecutive appearance. 

Gehrig's streak would last 130 more games before finally coming to an end April 30, 1939 and stood as the longest consecutive games played streak until Cal Ripken Jr. snapped it in 1995. 

During his time with the Yankees, Gehrig played through numerous injuries including multiple concussions. 

Via Alan Schwarz of the New York Times:

The most notable came in June 1934, when, in an exhibition game, Gehrig was hit with a pitch just above the right eye and was knocked unconscious for what was described in news reports as five minutes. (He was not wearing a batting helmet; such protection was not meaningfully introduced in the major leagues until the 1940s or required until 1958.) He was removed from the game.

Despite a headache, a doctor’s recommendation that he sit out and a bump on his head so large that he had to wear one of Babe Ruth’s larger caps, Gehrig played the next day against the Washington Senators to continue his streak at 1,415 games. “A little thing like that can’t stop us Dutchmen,” Gehrig told a reporter, according to Jonathan Eig’s definitive biography of Gehrig, “Luckiest Man.”

In 1924, during a postgame brawl with the Detroit Tigers, Gehrig swung at Ty Cobb and fell, hit his head on concrete, and was briefly knocked out. While playing first base against the Tigers in September 1930, Gehrig was hit in the face and knocked unconscious by a ground ball. He was knocked out again by an oncoming runner in 1935.

Those are the four incidents in which Gehrig’s being knocked unconscious was notable enough to be reported in newspapers. He most likely sustained other concussions that were never noticed or considered meaningful — for example, when he was hit in the head with a pitch during a 1933 game against Washington but continued playing.

Midway through the 1938 season, Gehrig stated that he felt physical changes going on as he was tired often and couldn't understand the cause. In 1939 his decline became more significant, resulting in him pulling himself from the lineup on May 2, ending his streak at 2,130 games. 

Gehrig was diagnosed with ALS weeks later at the age of 36. 

Birthdays

1962 - Joe Orsulak

1967 - Kenny Lofton

1972 - Dave Roberts

1981 - Jake Peavy

1984 - Andrew Bailey