‘I’ve got bad news’: How Yankees learned they lost a legend
NY Post
Editor’s note: The Post’s Mike Vaccaro recounts the death of Lou Gehrig — who died 80 years ago Wednesday — in his book, “1941: The Greatest Year In Sports.”
As great as he’d been, as superb a career as he’d built for himself, the Yankees still weren’t Joe DiMaggio’s team as 1941 dawned. That, sadly, could never happen as long as the captain emeritus, Lou Gehrig, was still alive. The Yankees had managed to shake off Gehrig’s stunning retirement in 1939, going on to win 106 games and a fourth straight World Series, but in 1940 his absence (and the rapid aging of other key team members) hobbled them badly. DiMaggio wasn’t able to carry the Yankees by himself, leading some to wonder if he could indeed follow the pathway established by Gehrig, and before him Babe Ruth.More Related News
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