Lou Gehrig's Final August: Battling ALS to Play 36 Games

Lou Gehrig's body was betraying him, and he knew something was terribly wrong, but in August 1938, he refused to quit.

The Yankees first baseman was having the worst season of his 14-year career. Fly balls that used to sail over the fence were dying at the warning track, and his powerful swing felt heavy and slow.

Just eight months later, Gehrig would remove himself from the lineup after 2,130 consecutive games. One month after that, doctors would diagnose him with ALS, the disease that would claim his life at age 37.

But first came August 1938, a month that baseball historian Jonathan Eig calls "the greatest individual accomplishment in the history of American sports."

Heavy rains in July forced the Yankees to schedule 10 doubleheaders in August. The team faced 36 games in 31 days, including 12 games over the final eight days, all during the hottest, most humid month of summer.

Gehrig played every single inning except one. On a sweltering 90-degree day in Washington, his manager finally pulled him in the eighth inning of a 15-0 blowout.

His performance that month matched Joe DiMaggio stride for stride. DiMaggio, the 23-year-old superstar, hit .335 with a 1.014 OPS. Gehrig, 12 years older and battling a fatal disease, hit .329 with a 1.055 OPS. He scored 32 runs and drove in 38.

Why This Inspires

Gehrig knew his strength was fading. His wife Eleanor had begged him to end his consecutive games streak back in May, seeing the physical toll on his deteriorating body. He'd even ordered lighter bats, dropping from his usual 36-37 ounces because he could no longer swing the heavy lumber that had terrorized pitchers for over a decade.

Yet when his team needed him most, fighting for a World Series berth in the punishing heat, Gehrig found reserves of courage that transcended physical ability. He willed his failing body through baseball's most demanding month, proving that heart can carry you when muscle fails.

The Yankees made the World Series that year. Less than a year later, Gehrig stood at Yankee Stadium and called himself "the luckiest man on the face of the earth."

That August showed why: he got to finish the fight on his own terms.