[00:08.39]A North American Major League baseball record was established in 1939.
[00:15.46]The man who set it played in 2,130 games without missing one.
[00:22.83]In 1995, the record was broken by Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles.
[00:30.35]But there is not much chance that the man who set the first record will be forgotten.
[00:37.36]Today Shirley Griffith and Steve Ember tell about Lou Gehrig whose record lasted for fifty-six years.
[00:46.92]Lou Gehrig was born on June 19, 1903.
[01:05.33]He was a huge baby.
[01:08.00]He weighed six-and-one-third kilograms.
[01:10.84]His parents,Heinrich and Christina Gehrig, had come to America from Germany.
[01:17.56]They worked hard.
[01:20.17]But they always had trouble earning enough money.
[01:24.01]Lou loved to play baseball games on the streets of New York City, where he grew up.
[01:31.30]Yet he did not try to play on any sports teams when he entered high school.
[01:30.30]He thought of himself as a ball player only for informal games with friends.
[01:36.99]Then one of Lou's high-school teachers heard that he could hit the ball very hard.
[01:42.86]The teacher ordered Lou to come to one of the school games.
[01:47.12]Years later, Lou said, "When I saw so many people and heard all the noise at the game,
[01:55.09]I was so scared I went home."
[01:57.78]The teacher threatened to fail Lou in school if he did not attend the next game.
[02:04.31]So Lou Gehrig went to that game.
[02:07.55]He became a valued member of the high school team.
[02:11.28]He also played other sports.
[02:14.11]The boy who feared noise and people was on his way to becoming a star baseball player.
[02:20.35]A representative of a major league team, the New York Giants, came to watch him.
[02:27.95]He got Lou a chance to play for the manager of the Giants' team, John McGraw.
[02:33.70]McGraw thought Gehrig needed more experience before becoming a major league player.
[02:39.97]It was suggested that Lou get that experience on a minor league team in the city of Hartford, Connecticut.
[02:47.91]Lou played in Hartford the summer after completing high school.
[02:52.95]He earned money to help his parents.
[02:56.21]His father was often sick and without a job.
[03:00.76]The money Lou earned also helped him attend Columbia University in New York City.
[03:08.28]The university had offered him financial help if he would play baseball on the Columbia team.
[03:15.21]But, the fact that Gehrig had accepted money for playing professional baseball got him into trouble.
[03:21.89]Officials of teams in Columbia's baseball league learned that Lou had played for the professional team in Hartford.
[03:31.48]The other teams got him banned from playing for Columbia during his first year at the college.
[03:38.64]Gehrig was permitted to play during his second year,though.
[03:43.71]He often hit the ball so far that people walking in the streets near the baseball field were in danger of being hit.
[03:52.64]Lou's mother earned money as a cook and house cleaner.
[03:57.55]But she became very sick.
[04:00.19]The family could not make their monthly payments for their home.
[04:04.21]The New York Yankees major league baseball organization came to the rescue.
[04:10.22]The Yankees offered Lou 3,500 dollars to finish the 1923 baseball season.
[04:19.60]That was a great deal of money in those days.
[04:24.01]Gehrig happily accepted the offer.
[04:26.89]His parents were sad that he was leaving Columbia.
[04:31.25]Yet his decision ended their financial problems.
[04:35.19]The Yankees recognized that Gehrig was a good hitter.
[04:40.31]They wanted him to add to the team's hitting power provided by its star player, Babe Ruth.
[04:47.00]But Gehrig had trouble throwing and catching the ball.
[04:51.65]So they sent him back to the minor league team in Hartford.
[04:56.27]While playing there he improved his fielding.
[05:00.19]He also had sixty-nine hits in fifty-nine games.
[05:04.89]The next spring Gehrig went to spring training camp with the Yankees.
[05:11.03]Again he was sent to Hartford to get more experience.
[05:15.73]And again, the Yankees called him back in September.
[05:20.10]He hit six hits in twelve times at the bat before that baseball season ended.
[05:27.46]Lou Gehrig began to play first base for the Yankees regularly in early June of 1925.
[05:36.58]He played well that day and for the two weeks that followed.
[05:41.73]Then Gehrig was hit in the head by a throw to second base.
[05:46.27]He should have left the game.
[05:45.27]But he refused to |