Player Appreciation: Lou Gehrig

But with Lou Gehrig, that is exactly the case.
People know he was a tremendous ball player, that he played in 2,130 consecutive games, that he was classy, and that he died young.
But what people don't understand is that he didn't just play second fiddle to Babe Ruth, he might be the most underrated offensive force in the history of the game.
First, let's analyze Gehrig's RBI numbers:

1. Since records were kept, there have been 46 times in which a player had driven in 150 runs. Gehrig did it seven times. Ruth accomplished the feat six times.


2. Gehrig drove in 170 runs four times. That has been done six other times combined.


3. The Iron Horse averaged 149 runs batted in for every 162 games he played.


4. You could argue Gehrig benefited from having the greatest player ever hit in front of him. That said, it was a blessing and a curse. Ruth batted in front of Gehrig during the 1927 season, which meant Gehrig came to the plate 60 times with nobody on base thanks to Ruth's home runs. The first baseman still managed to drive in 175 runs in just 524 at-bats.

Now lets look at Gehrig as the complete hitter:

1. Despite playing during a time when there were just 154 games in a season, Gehrig collected 200 hits eight times. That's pretty impressive when you consider Ruth and Hank Aaron did it three times, Joe DiMaggio did it twice and Ted Williams never did it. Oh yeah, singles hitters also had a hard time matching that number. Wade Boggs did it seven times and Tony Gwynn did it five times.


2. Reaching 400 total bases in a season is a very rare trick. It's happened 29 times. For example, when Mark McGwire hit 70 homers and Ted Williams won his triple crowns, (including batting .406) they never did it. Gehrig however reached the milestone five times. Chuck Klein did it three seasons while Babe Ruth, Sammy Sosa, Rogers Hornsby and Todd Helton are the only other players to do it more than once.


3. Gehrig also had such bat control and knowledge of the strike zone - and a bit of respect from the men in blue - that he struck out just 790 times in 8,001 at-bats. He had more than twice as many runs batted in (1,995) than whiffs.

And lastly, the career numbers: It's quite possible that had he been able to play one or two more healthy years, he would have accomplished milestones that seem almost unbelievable. Remember his last supposedly healthy season was 1938. He drove in 117 runs, batted .295 (his first time below 300 in 12 seasons) and slugged 27 home runs.

1. There are just three players with 2,000 runs batted in - Ruth, Aaron and Cap Anson. Gehrig finished with 1,995. It is conceivable Gehrig would have broken Ruth's record of 2,217.
2. There are four players with 3,000 hits and 500 home runs - Aaron, Eddie Murray, Raphael Palmeiro and Willie Mays. Gehrig retired with 493 home runs and 2,721 hits.

Of course, the great thing about Gehrig is that no matter how impressive the numbers, they really can never explain why he was one of the greatest to ever play the game.
The only thing that does is a five-letter word: class.