Why don't you look where you're going?
Come on, butterfingers.
Throw it here.
Come on.
Okay, let's play ball.
Come on, now.
- Hey, Murphy.
- What do you want?
- Let me in, will you?
- Get outta here.
- I got some Sweet Caporal cards!
- Who you got?
Hans Wagner.
Grover Cleveland Alexander.
Them old-timers?
- Tris Speaker, Johnny Evers.
- Has-beens.
- Christy Mathewson.
- A dime a dozen.
Who you holdin' out?
Babe Ruth.
A rookie.
Come on, let's play ball!
Come on.
Three strikes and he's out.
Put it over the plate now.
Come on.
He can't hit anything.
Come on!
- What's the matter?
- Sasha.
- Yeah, Mom?
- Your professor's here. Come and take.
In a minute, Mom.
Not in a minute, Sasha.
Now!
All right.
Hey, you.
Come here.
- You gonna let me take his place?
- Gimme the cards.
Sure, Murph.
- Can I keep Babe Ruth?
- Keep him.
- Gee, thanks.
- Okay, let's play ball.
Get off the sack.
Okay. Let's go, come on.
He's a southpaw, come on.
Over the plate, now.
Let's see a good one.
- What's your name?
- Lou Gehrig.
Well, what about it?
We can't wait here all day.
I can't do anything without my wife.
I didn't mean to do it, Mom.
I didn't know I could hit that far.
He busted Colletti's window.
Baseball.
- How much?
- $18.50.
I told him, Mama,
he should carry glass insurance.
Mr. Colletti, let me
work it out after school.
- I'll run errands.
- No, Louie.
What we break, we pay for.
$16.25 leaves $2.25 I owe you.
- I pay you Saturday.
- Okay, Mrs. Gehrig.
- I'm sorry.
- I'm sorry, too.
Me, too, Mom.
You'd better be, young Gehrig.
I'm telling you, that was a mighty wallop.
I feel awful about it, Mom. Honest, I do.
I'll pay you back the money.
I promised to fix Mrs.
Reagan's dumbwaiter.
It isn't just the money, Lou,
it's the time you waste.
I'll get my working papers.
I'll quit school.
Quit school?
How can you say that?
How many times have I told you?
I want you to go to school,
and high school, and college and...
Look at your papa. Look at me.
We didn't go to school, and what are we?
A janitor. A cook.
I want you to be somebody.
Sure, Mom.
Like your Uncle Otto, Louie.
He went to university. He graduated.
Don't you see, Louie?
That's why I'm cooking at Columbia,
so you can go there some day...
...and be an engineer like your Uncle Otto.
Mom, maybe I ain't cut out to be an engineer.
- What do you want to be?
- I want to be a...
- I don't know.
- You've got to know.
In this country,
you can be anything you want to be.
Don't you want to be an engineer
like your Uncle Otto?
- Don't you?
- Sure, Mom.
Whatever you want me to be.
This fraternity has standards.
You can't ignore his family.
- He's a cinch to be a four-letter man.
- His mother's the best cook at Columbia.
Somehow that doesn't add up
to Sigma Alpha Psi, in my mind.
Lou's all right, Van.
- I'm trying to maintain a certain standard.
- Gold standard?
How would you like to get
this right in the...
Hold on.
Let's put it to a vote.
All those in favor of pledging Lou Gehrig...
Carried.
Go ahead, if that's what you want.
I won't stand in your way.
Hang a pledge pin on him.
Don't expect me to call him brother.
Let's eat.
I don't know why this has to happen
every night before dinner.
You certainly smacked that ball around
this afternoon.
Yeah. Tough on the guys
who live in the dormitories.
You never know when you're going
to get a baseball in your geometry.
- What's your batting average now?
- I'll swap it for your math grade.
Hold it, Lou.
Thanks, fellows.
This is an honor.
You know, I'm not much on talking.
I just would like to say...
...thanks, fellows.
- Welcome in, Lou.
- He's a swell guy.
- Hi, Mom.
- What?
I just said hi.
Hi. The soup is getting cold.
- Mom.
- What?
Look.
- Lou, they took you in.
- Yeah, just now.
Everything's going so fine now.
First Columbia, then a fraternity,
and the next thing, you will be an engineer.
This is just the pledge pin.
I get the real pin before long.
And when I get it,
I'm supposed to give it to my best girl.
You still my best girl, Mom?
Always.
It'll mean you'll have to go steady with me.
You can't look at anybody else.
Not even Papa?
All right, Papa.
Well, Sam. I'm going to build
my football team around a new man next fall.
A great halfback.
Somebody gunning for you, Jim?
I guess it's always open season
on football coaches.
Especially to you sportswriters.
That's the halfback I was telling you about.
Lou Gehrig, a line-plunging fool.
Football?
For a kid that can hit a baseball this far?
There's a pretty stiff wind
blowing in this direction.
That wind could blow him
into the major leagues.
Lay off. That happened to Eddie Collins...
...the greatest second baseman
we had at Columbia.
It spread all over the sports pages,
and then he's playing professional baseball.
Lay off of this kid, will you?
I'm a newspaperman, Jim,
and that sure was some wallop.
If you won't introduce me, then I'll just go
right up and introduce myself.
I can't bear not meeting him.
Mr. Gehrig.
I suppose you'll think I'm terribly fresh,
but I just couldn't stand it another minute.
Lou, you seem to have made a conquest.
Mile-a-minute Myra,
the all-American prom-trotter.
Miss Tinsley, may I present Mr. Gehrig?
- How do you do?
- I do, Mr. Gehrig, just wonderful.
What chance have I got
against a great athlete?
Pay no attention to me.
I'll just go away somewhere
and drink myself to death.
Aren't you going to ask me to dance?
Wouldn't you condescend to dance
with a little Miss Nobody like me?
- I guess I don't dance very well.
- You and your modesty.
Athletes do everything well.
Don't you want to dance with me?
Would you care to dance, Miss Tinsley?
I'd adore to.
I could just die dancing with you.
But it seems such a waste of time.
I want to talk to you.
I know a place we can be all by our lonesome.
It'll be just wonderful.
You know what?
I never danced before in my life.
- Now...
- I wouldn't kid you. I'd never kid you.
I was scared stiff, Miss Tinsley.
Myra.
Myra, would you like to dance again?
Later.
First, I want to know all about you.
Go on, tell me.
There isn't anything.
A great big, famous person like you?
You've even had your name in the paper.
Tell me, do you just adore baseball?
You see, I'm not gonna be a ballplayer.
Mom wants me to be an engineer.
You're going to do what she wants?
Of course.
I think that's just adorable.
Gonna be an old engineer
that never gets his name in the paper.
Just 'cause your mother wants you to.
You're wonderful.
You're the one that's wonderful.
Now, Mr. Gehrig...
Lou.
Are you going to remember me, Lou?
Remember you?
Maybe these will help you to.
Of course they will.
Because they're like you.
- "Night and day time, always play..."
- Hey, Myra.
Where have you been? How about our dance?
Excuse me, Lou.
"And the poor get poorer...
"In the meantime, in between time,
ain't we got fun?"
Here he is now, the pride of the ballroom.
- Quit kidding, will you?
- I wouldn't kid you.
I'd never kid you.
- Come on, eat.
- Nice work, Lou. You're wonderful.
No, I'm not.
You're the one that's wonderful.
What are you going to be
when you grow up, Van?
I'd like to be a great, big fireman
because I'm so good at it.
But the mater won't let me.
- She wants me to be a motorman.
- Hey, what is all this?
Van, even though
the big-league teams are begging you...
...on their bended knees to join them,
you will remember us, won't you?
I don't need anything
to make me remember you.
But I'd like to have these...
...because they're like you.
He was only joking.
A man from the Yankees is looking for you.
- More jokes?
- Gehrig? My name's Blake.
Miller Huggins of the Yankees...
- You're trying to be funny, too?
- Wait a minute.
Say, Lou.
What made you give Mr. Blake
the rush act last night?
He came up to your fraternity house
to do you a favor.
You mean that he...
You mean that you want to...
Wait a minute. Let's start over again.
This is Sam Blake of the Evening Standard.
Lou Gehrig.
You don't have to play with the Yankees,
but it's no insult to be asked.
The Yankees?
- You mean the New York Yankees?
- Not the Chillicothe Yankees.
Thanks.
That's wonderful.
But...
...l'm gonna be an engineer.
Engineer.
- Don't get up, Mama. I'll get it for you.
- I can do it. I'm all right.
No, you're not all right. You stay here.
- What's the matter, Pop?
- Mom is sick.
- It's nothing.
- It's something, Lou.
- I'll get a doctor.
- Never mind. He'll cost $2.
I'll get him.
We must get your wife
to the hospital immediately.
The general hospital is rather crowded,
but I'll see if I can make arrangements.
There must be room in one of the wards.
Mom's not going to a ward.
She's gonna have the best,
a good room in a private hospital.
But beggars can't be choosers.
The private hospital costs money,
and where are we going to get it?
I know where I can get it.
Tell the doc not to bother.
I'll make all the arrangements.
Aren't you gonna read what you're signing?
No, I'm in a hurry.
Just in case you're interested...
...you're the property
of the New York Yankees from now on.
Only, I think we'll have to smooth off
the rough edges.
To start with, I'm going to send you up
to play with Hartford.
- Here you are.
- Thank you, bye. Bye, Blake.
- Try to keep your afternoons free, will you?
- Sure.
Maybe he signed with the wrong team.
He's nutty enough to play
with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
You'll never be sorry you signed him.
Well, I don't know.
That's wonderful, Louie.
But one thing I don't understand.
They send you from New York to Hartford
to bring you back to New York.
I'll never understand America.
They're sending me there
for the experience I need.
That's the way they work it.
How you going to work it?
- Work what?
- Mama.
Louie.
- How's my best girl?
- Fine.
Mama, I've got to go make a phone call.
Wait a minute. Grab a hold of that.
- How are they treating you, Mom?
- Wonderful.
I can't get over how much
they give you here for nothing.
All the city hospitals are free.
Everybody treats me like a queen.
Mom.
- Yes, Louie?
- I want to tell you something.
- Excuse me a minute.
- Wait.
It's nothing, really.
I'm going away, Mom.
I'm going to Hartford.
- You see, Mom...
- Harvard.
Harvard?
That's wonderful.
You are going to be a great engineer.
Harvard's engineering school is good.
But Louie, suppose she finds out?
What about me?
Protect yourself in the clinches, Pop.
What about mail?
Suppose Mama writes you?
She'll write the letters, but you mail them.
What about the money you will be sending me?
- How will I explain that?
- Tell her you got a job.
- A job? Who, me?
- You.
Louie, wait.
- What kind of a job?
- That's up to you.
All aboard.
Politics.
- Good morning, Mrs. Gehrig.
- Good morning, Mrs. Roberts.
You saw the papers?
Papers? The one says white, the other black.
I never read them.
- You must be proud of your son.
- My Lou? Of course.
But I just can't get over how wonderful
everything is with my husband.
Mr. Gehrig, you know?
I had no idea that...
My husband told me in the hospital
how wonderful his job was.
I couldn't believe it.
You want to know when he leaves for work?
When he feels like it.
When he doesn't feel like it,
he doesn't go to work at all.
Political, at $25 a week.
What is it, Papa?
- What's the matter?
- Nothing.
- What?
- Nothing.
- I couldn't wait for you to come to the door.
- It's in the paper!
- Isn't it wonderful?
- Shut up.
This is great news!
You should be a proud father!
You'll tell me later.
Mr. Gehrig, this is a great day.
- What is it all about?
- Didn't you read in the paper about Lou?
- Paper? Lou?
- Here it is.
Read it.
- Lou?
- Yes.
"Gehrig recalled by Yankees."
We'll talk about it later.
We'll talk about it now.
- Mom.
- Here's Lou now.
Congratulations.
If you don't mind, I think there are a few
things I ought to talk over with the folks.
We understand.
How's my best girl?
- I'd better go, too.
- Where? To work?
I'll be right back, Louie.
About Hartford...
I didn't go there just because
I wanted to play baseball.
I went because we needed the money.
You were sick,
and the doctor said you might die.
I wish I had died, rather than see you
give up everything we planned.
For what? To play ball.
A disgrace like that.
It's not a disgrace to play with the Yankees.
That's what we came to America for.
A wonderful country
where everybody has an equal chance.
That's why you studied,
why you went to Columbia...
...so that you could play baseball?
After all my plans for you
to follow after your Uncle Otto.
Uncle Otto's dead.
Yes, and he'd turn over in his grave
if he knew what happened in the family.
People have to live their own lives.
Nobody can live it for you.
Nobody could make a ballplayer out of him...
...and nobody can make anything
but a ballplayer out of me.
You are good for nothing.
All baseballers are good for nothing.
Loafers in short pants.
You've never been to a ball game.
Lots of people go every day.
Men, women, and children.
Maybe there's something to it.
Maybe it's fun.
Why don't you come out and watch me play...
...so you can judge for yourself?
- What do you say?
- Never.
- You sure we came to the right ballpark?
- Yes.
And those are not the players?
They are getting the field ready.
What do they do with the pillows?
They are not pillows. They are bases.
- You slide into them.
- I slide into them?
Just watch, Mama.
Just watch.
I can't understand it.
So many people with nothing to do.
Score cards. Get your score cards, folks.
You can't tell the players
without a scorecard.
My own son, I can tell.
The others are none of my business.
- Is your son playing?
- Sure. Lou Gehrig.
Gehrig? Never heard of him.
- Substitute?
- No. Yankees.
Scorecards. Get your scorecards.
Hello, Babe.
- Hello, boys. How are you?
- Hey, Babe.
Was that homer yesterday 38 or 39?
Don't know, but
I'll hit 'em and you count 'em.
- Where's Lou?
- I don't see him.
You sure we came to the right ballpark?
What did you say
the name of this genius was?
Gehrig. Henry Louis Gehrig.
$5 will get you $10,
you don't remember any part of it next year.
Henry Blotto Gehrig.
Come on, son. Give me the ball.
Will you give me the ball?
Come on.
Gehrig.
I want you to keep your eye on Wally Pipp,
out there on first base.
I know you can hit,
but fielding is important, too.
Yeah.
What's the matter, Wally?
You getting weak? Hit it.
What's the matter, Wally? Can't you see him?
Take your time, Wally old boy.
You can do it.
Strike!
- Time.
- Time.
Better take me out, Miller.
I've been seein' double since I was beaned.
That's a tough break. Have Doc look you over.
Too bad, Wally.
Gehrig.
- Who, me?
- Yes, you.
Tanglefoot.
Never mind, that. Get in there for Pipp.
- Get a hold of one, I know you can do it.
- Okay.
Lot of pepper.
Come on, talk it up, you fellows.
Gehrig now batting for Pipp.
- You started something, Eleanor.
- Didn't I?
Dreadful, isn't it?
I seem to have tied a label on that rookie.
Tanglefoot!
Safe!
Omit flowers, please.
Are you putting the jinx on him?
No, Sam.
But you ought to have a nurse around.
- Are you okay?
- I'm okay.
Better get to the clubhouse,
have the doc look at you.
I'm all right, Mr. Huggins.
Don't take me out now.
I've been waiting too long to get in.
What do we have to do,
kill you to get you out of the lineup?
- Babe, we're waiting for you.
- What will it be tonight, Mr. Ruth?
I'll have a couple of those,
smothered with pork chops.
- Yes, sir.
- Take it easy.
And mushrooms.
- Maybe some nice fish.
- Say, that's an idea.
The Yankees.
Enjoying your stay in Chicago?
- Hello, Mr. Twitchell.
- Hello, losers.
Hello, Mr. Twitchell.
Gotta let 'em win once in a while.
There's your friend,
the Hot Dog King's daughter.
Tell them to bring some horseshoes
when they come to New York.
- You can't win with alibis.
- We weren't alibiing.
How's Tanglefoot?
Has he come to yet, or can't you tell?
You gave that rookie an awful riding
out there today.
Have you made up your mind yet?
Yes, I think I'll have some lamb chops
and pineapple.
Hello, Mr. Blake.
Tanglefoot.
Miss Twitchell. Mr. Gehrig.
All right, we're even.
If we're even, maybe you'll sit down with us.
- Not going to pull it out, are you?
- No.
Mr. Gehrig, I hear this was
your first game today.
My first appearance.
And am I glad to get out
of the lumber business.
- You don't know what that means.
- I know what it means.
What does it mean?
Picking splinters off of your pants
from sitting on the bench so long.
How long do you expect
to stay off the bench, Mr. Gehrig?
I'll tell you. I got a hunch
I'm gonna be playing for a long while.
Wally Pipp must be awful sick.
Say...
What are you doing with this Yankee?
- Hello, Sam.
- Hello, Mr. Twitchell.
This is my father.
- How do you do?
- Yankees' new first baseman?
- Yes, sir, at last.
- I like the way you stand up to the ball.
Lot of power there.
Your father knows a player when he sees one.
- Yes, he stands up to the plate fine.
- Yes, he does.
And he falls down on the bats
pretty good, too, Dad.
Mr. Tanglefoot.
- Won't you join us, Mr. Twitchell?
- Thank you.
Say, Blake...
...you know a lot about women.
Yeah, sure.
What does it mean when a girl says
you remind her of a Newfoundland puppy?
Well, if it was an Airedale,
that would be bad.
Or a police dog.
That would be fatal.
But a Newfoundland puppy...
...l'd see her again, if I was you.
I think he's got a pinochle deck.
Hey, where have you been?
Let me out of here.
Boys, where's Lou?
Did he get on the train all right?
Yeah, he got on.
Just hoping, that's all.
I've watched this game for four hands now.
You've had some swell hats, Babe,
but this one is tops.
It is beautiful.
Yeah? Now listen, you mugs.
Lay off of this one.
If I see anyone touch it,
I'll knock his teeth in.
And I'm not kidding.
Deal me in.
Come on. Ante up.
We can look at it, can't we, Babe?
- You know, from a distance?
- Don't try to kid me, Mark.
- You busted my last one.
- Me? No.
No, not Mark.
Don't look too hard.
That's the fifth straw hat I've bought
this season and that's the last straw.
The last straw? That's a good gag, Babe.
Get the point?
What a gag.
- I'm in.
- Give me three.
Three to Babe. Coming in.
- Jack?
- Two.
Go ahead, take a bite.
If you're one of us, you'll take a bite.
Take two bites.
What do you got?
Three kings.
Why, you...
- The busher was hungry.
- He didn't need cream and sugar.
That Gehrig's the chump of all time.
Falling for a gag like that.
He doesn't know about gags.
What does he know about, Mr. Bones?
- Baseball.
- He knows! I'll tell you something.
A guy like that is a detriment to any sport.
He's a boob with a batting eye.
He wakes up, brushes his teeth,
hikes out to the ballpark...
...hits the ball, hikes back
to the hotel room...
...reads the funny papers, gargles,
and goes to bed.
That's personality.
- The best.
- A real hero.
Let me tell you about heroes, Hank.
I've covered a lot of them,
and I'm saying Gehrig is the best of them.
No front-page scandals, no daffy excitements,
no horn-piping in the spotlight.
No nothing.
But a guy who does his job and nothing else.
He lives for his job, he
gets a lot of fun out it.
Fifty million other people
get a lot of fun out of him...
...watching him do something
better than anybody else ever did.
You'd be right, Sam, if all baseball fans
were as big boobs as Gehrig.
They are.
The same kind of boobs as Gehrig.
Only without a batting eye.
That's why I'm putting my money on Gehrig.
There's a package for you, Louie.
- I'll take it, Mom.
- No, I'll open it.
- Maybe I'd better pack it just like it is.
- No, I'll open it.
- Where did you say you play first?
- Chicago.
Great town.
They call me Tanglefoot in Chicago.
- Tanglefoot?
- Yeah, only she didn't mean it, I think.
Who?
That is the way you talk about a city.
The city's always "she."
Ships, too.
- What's this?
- That's my new suit.
- You never had one like this before.
- It's what they call a tuxedo.
- Some people call it a tux.
- You wear it when you go out at night.
To a smoker.
Louie.
Am I still your best girl?
Take care of my girl, Pop.
Ball two.
Have you seen Mr. Twitchell, lately?
- Twitchell?
- Yeah.
The fellow we met
at the Rathskeller that night, remember?
I didn't know he'd made
such an impression on you.
Strike two.
Say you wanted to find Mr. Twitchell.
What would you do?
I don't want to find Mr. Twitchell.
Don't worry,
you're bound to run into Eleanor one day.
- Eleanor?
- Yes. She'll know where her father is.
It's really quite simple.
Ball three.
I'll bet Twitchell misses you, too.
Pardon me. Well, Miss Twitchell.
- Hello, Mr. Blake. With us again?
- Back again.
Is your father around?
One of the boys is very anxious to see him.
- Who?
- Lou Gehrig.
Yes. He's talked an awful lot
about your father.
- He's practically talked about nothing else.
- Really?
Gehrig. Snap out of it, will you?
Hey, Tanglefoot.
What's the matter? Are you asleep?
You did it again, mister. Here's your doll.
Would you go away?
Would you please go away?
You're next.
See if you can be as lucky as he was.
How am I doin'?
I guess that does it. Shall we eat?
Don't you want to see me shoot?
All right, gents, it's only a nickel.
He wins a prize. Here you are, sir.
That's how easy it is.
- That little fellow must be awful strong.
- Yeah.
Try it again, just to prove
that wasn't a fluke.
Go on, try it. There, now watch him.
Here he goes.
He did it before, he'll do it again.
He did it again.
I've never tried that.
I'll ring the bell once for you.
- How about eating?
- I'll just smack it once.
There you are, sir, you're next.
All right, now.
- He's a big fellow. Bet he'll break the bell.
- Yeah.
Watch him. He looks like a strong fella.
He might break the machine.
Watch him. Step back.
Here you are. Win a prize.
Let's eat.
Why, aren't you going
to ring the bell for me?
- What would you like to eat?
- I'm not so hungry. Go ahead and try it.
All this time,
you were saying how hungry you are.
I must have waited too long,
because I'm not hungry now.
You, mister. The little lady wants
to see how strong you are.
Don't disappoint the little lady.
Come right over, step right up.
Ring the bell, win a prize.
That's all you have to do.
Don't disappoint the little lady.
There you are.
Test your strength, that's all there is to it.
Ring the bell and win a prize.
Watch him, folks. Step right up, a nickel.
That's too bad. Try again, mister.
If at first you don't succeed, you know.
Just as easy as rolling off a log.
Wait a minute, mister. Hold this. Look.
You gotta get your wrists into it.
In anything athletic,
you got to get the wrists in. Watch me.
Watch him, folks.
Here he goes, watch him, here he goes.
- He did it again.
- See?
- Here, try it.
- That's all there is to it.
- Like this?
- Yeah, that's it.
Ring the bell and win a prize. That's all...
Here. Beat it, brother.
- Now we eat.
- Boy.
- What would you like to eat?
- Hot dogs and champagne?
Good!
"I'll be loving you"
"always"
"With a love that's true"
"always"
"When the things you've planned"
"Need a helping hand"
"I will understand, always"
"Always"
"Days may not be fair, always"
"That's when I'll be there, always"
"Not for just an hour"
"Not for just a day"
"Not for just a year"
"but always"
- To your first World Series.
- Don't say that, not yet.
We've got six more cities waiting for us,
and anything can happen.
Did you realize, this is my last night
in Chicago this season?
And this is good-bye?
What a lot of 'em.
Six more to go. Six more good-byes.
Six more what?
You play in seven cities
when you're on the road.
You must have a girl in every city.
A ballplayer is a lot like a sailor, isn't he?
A girl in every port.
What's Miss Boston's name?
I never said I had a girl in Boston.
Haven't you? What about Philadelphia?
St. Louis? Cleveland? Detroit?
Washington? New York?
You forgot Chicago.
Chicago? Who?
Aren't you my girl?
I don't know what you mean by "your girl."
Your best girl, is that what you mean?
I guess that's what I mean.
I guess I thought you were.
Whatever gave you that idea?
I've seen you four days in a row.
And you're out with me here tonight.
Isn't that what best girls do?
Is it? I wonder if I'm going to miss you.
- Can't you find out before I go?
- Nope. Isn't that too bad?
Why is it like that?
I have no idea.
Seems silly, doesn't it?
I like that tune, don't you?
Dance with me?
Lou, if I do miss you,
I wish I knew how much I were going to.
I wish you knew before I left.
Shall I try?
How?
Shall I...
- Where do you go from here?
- Detroit.
All right.
Close my eyes,
and pretend it's tomorrow night...
...and I'm dancing with someone else.
- Yeah, I get the idea.
- All right, ready?
Are you in Detroit?
Yep. I'm sitting in the lobby
of the Statler Hotel.
Who am I dancing with?
Let me see. Who do I know?
Harold Chandler, Bill Talbot...
...Jim Johnson, Jack Austin...
...Bill Church, Sam Price...
Hey.
- What?
- You've got a ball club of your own.
I'm tired of this game. I don't like it.
I'm back from Detroit.
And I'm laughing again.
"Not for just an hour"
"Not for just a day"
"Not for just a year"
"but always"
- All right, Babe.
- Hold it. That's it, still.
Hand the ball to the kid.
That's it, Babe. Give us a big smile, Billy.
- Can you sit up a little, son?
- Hold it!
- There you are, kid.
- Let's have one with your arm around him.
- Can you look up at Mr. Ruth, sonny?
- Hold it.
That's it.
- Just one more.
- Right. Go right ahead.
Page one, on every rag from coast to coast,
or I go back to the copy desk.
That's enough, boys.
And what's more, Billy, I'm going to hit
a home run for you this afternoon...
...and what's more,
you can pick your own field...
...left, center or right.
What did you say? Center field? Okay.
- Hey, Babe.
- Yes.
- I wonder if you'd autograph this for me?
- I will.
- Would you autograph mine, too, please?
- Absolutely.
Keep your chin up, Billy.
Mr. Gehrig, will you put
your name on it, too?
Sure.
- You're quite a fan, aren't you?
- I haven't missed a game this season.
Yeah.
Thanks.
I like to play baseball.
You'll play again.
You know there isn't anything you can't do,
if you try hard enough.
- You think so?
- Sure.
Could you knock a home run
for me this afternoon?
But you've already been promised one
by Babe Ruth.
Could you?
That's a pretty tall order.
Okay.
Could you knock two homers?
Two homers, in a World Series?
You said that you could do anything
if you tried hard enough.
That's what you said.
Yeah.
Okay.
I'll hit two homers for you,
if you hit one for me.
Me?
You've got to promise me that...
...one of these days, you're going to get
out of bed and go home on your own power.
But how?
If you want to do something hard enough,
you can do it.
We can both do it, can't we?
Okay.
- So long, Billy.
- So long, Mr. Gehrig.
- Lou.
- Lou.
It's been announced
that all threat of rain has disappeared.
The World Series between
New York and St. Louis...
...will be resumed this
afternoon as scheduled.
Good afternoon.
This is Bill Stern,
from Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.
This is a World Series that'll make history,
go down in history, be history.
The Babe has just stepped up to the plate.
The Babe's going to try for a home run,
but it's not for the crowd.
I'll tell you what the crowd doesn't know.
This one's going to be for a little boy
in a St. Louis hospital.
It's an IOU from the Sultan of Swat
to a little crippled kid.
Will he pay it?
Ball!
There goes a home run
out in the center field bleachers.
Ruth at first base.
Yankees come out of their dugout.
A smile all over the faces
of the New York Yankees.
Miller Huggins has a grin on his mouth
from ear to ear.
Things aren't bad enough here in St. Louis,
but the next man up has to be Lou Gehrig.
Ruth is coming into home plate now.
Babe Ruth is pretty good, too.
Gehrig is in the batter's box,
in a second, I think we'll be set to go.
Folks, this is going to be a great day
for little Billy in the hospital.
I've just been informed that Lou Gehrig
has promised to hit two home runs for him.
It's a home run for Lou Gehrig.
A home run for Gehrig.
Gehrig puts it right over the fence.
He really delivered.
The Yankees have come out of their dugout,
Miller Huggins leading them.
What a duel. This is a batting duel
between the two Kings of Clout.
Each one has knocked out a home run...
...but Gehrig has promised two home runs
for that kid. Can he do it?
Here's $10 says he can't.
Here's $10 says he can.
Ball!
Strike!
The catcher gives the signal.
Pitcher's got the ball, here's the windup.
Strike!
Strike two.
The ball is back to the pitcher.
He takes his time.
Strike three. Gehrig's out.
Louie didn't want Babe Ruth to feel bad.
This is the sixth inning. Lou's at bat again.
After that second home run for Billy,
that little boy in the hospital.
Strike!
Take it easy, Lou.
Gehrig seems to be overanxious.
He's reaching for some bad ones.
He's trying too hard
for that second home run for that kid.
That was a sucker bet.
I hate to take that $10 from you.
- Do you want to make it $20?
- $20 it is.
Come on, hit it.
Gehrig takes his bat off his shoulder.
Looks at it. Maybe he thinks it has a hole.
Strike three.
Oh, gosh.
Maybe you'd better call Lou
on the long distance...
...and tell him to stop fooling.
Hurry, hurry! Lay down!
Safe!
Now, remember, Lou, take it easy.
Take it easy, don't press.
All we need is a single.
You might as well kick in with the $20.
- The game isn't over yet.
- It's as good as over.
- You want to make it $30?
- It's a bet.
Here he is again.
Ball!
They're going to pass him.
That's dirty pool.
Last time at bat in this World Series
and if they walk him, it will fill the bases.
That's a lot better
than risking an apple over the fence.
Let him walk you, Lou.
The count's no strikes,
three balls, two outs.
Here it comes.
If you haven't got $30,
I'll take your left leg on account.
What do you think of that one?
Two home runs in one World Series game.
He's really a man, that man.
From now on, they'll have to spell
Gehrig's name in capital letters.
Lou.
Gehrig.
Hey, guys, what about a half-dozen collars?
Go to it, boys.
Mr. Gehrig.
Mr. Gehrig, telegram for you.
Hey, don't tear my clothes.
Everything all right, Lou?
What's the idea?
- You live here?
- No.
What are you doing here?
I was calling on a young lady.
At 4:00 in the morning?
What for?
If you must know...
...I was calling on the young lady
to ask her to marry me.
- I see. And who are you?
- My name is Lou Gehrig.
- Lou who?
- Gehrig.
You look like him, too.
I didn't recognize you in the dark.
My name's O'D
oole. Glad to know you, Gehrig.
- You're gonna ask her to marry you?
- Yeah.
Knocked out a couple of homers yesterday,
didn't you?
I got a little lucky.
I hope you have good luck today, too.
Is Miss Twitchell at home?
- What's she done?
- Nothing yet.
- Tell her Lou Gehrig wants to see her.
- Yes, sir.
- Will you come in and wait in the parlor?
- Yeah. Go on in.
Thank you.
You're kinda fidgety.
Yeah.
Eleanor.
- What is it?
- A policeman wants to see you.
- A policeman?
- And a fellow called Lou Gehrig.
I guess you don't need me anymore.
Louie should be home most any minute.
I don't know what's keeping him.
Tessie, don't you see him yet?
Not yet.
I love surprise parties.
Why didn't Lou come home
on the train with the team?
He missed the train. He sent us a telegram.
I bet Lou will be glad to get back home
after all that hotel food.
Yes.
Tonight we have stuffed breast of veal,
and tomorrow night, fried eels.
Tessie, no sign yet?
Not yet.
I don't know what's keeping him.
Papa is in there fussing with the food again.
I gave you the instructions.
You said you would tell Apfell.
You got it wrong.
You have ruined everything.
- What is it, Papa?
- This fool. This dope.
It ain't my fault. I just delivered it.
- What happened?
- Look.
They made Louie a right-handed batter.
I didn't even know what it was.
Mr. Apfell just told me to deliver it.
The only one in America
that don't know Louie's a southpaw...
...and he has to be our baker.
- Maybe nobody'll notice it.
- A right-hander.
- Tessie, now?
- Not yet.
What do you think happened to the cake?
Now!
Where is everybody?
Surprise!
Mom, this is Ellie.
I mean, Eleanor Twitchell.
Hello, Mrs. Gehrig.
- And this is my pop.
- Lou, that was some ball game.
- This is Mrs. Johnson.
- How do you do?
Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Larsen, and Miss Larsen.
Well, listen, folks,
there's something I've got to tell you.
I guess there's only one
way to do this thing.
Mrs. Gehrig, meet Mrs. Gehrig.
- What?
- I mean, as soon as we get married.
Lou's done nothing but talk about you,
Mrs. Gehrig.
I'm so happy.
I got some refreshments in the other room.
Brought you back a ball
used in the third game.
Did you?
The trouble with you, Mama,
you are not modern.
A young fellow nowadays...
...he's engaged,
he takes his girl back to her hotel.
It's 10 minutes to the hotel,
10 minutes back.
But it doesn't mean he gets
home in 20 minutes.
By the end of next season,
you can finish up in Chicago...
...come back here and get an apartment,
fix it up, then we'll get married.
I think she's giving us a gentle hint.
Do you think your mother likes me?
Like you? How could she help liking you?
I was just wondering.
She ought to be jealous of you.
You're so pretty.
I'm jealous of you myself.
I guess I was wrong.
- About what?
- Nothing.
- Good night.
- Good night.
I must say, you've picked
the most beautiful number in the store.
- Ellie, if you are looking for a chifforobe...
- I found it, Mom. Just what I want.
Isn't it lovely?
It don't look very practical,
and it looks second-hand, too.
It's an antique.
Louie can afford to buy new stuff.
I'll show you.
Look at that.
Strong and practical. It'll last a lifetime.
- Mom, I worked out sort of a scheme.
- It was only a suggestion.
- You see, the rug in the bedroom...
- The rug.
You remind me. I'll show you.
Take a look at that.
It's exactly the right
size for your living room.
I was planning on something
more a pastel shade.
It's almost an exact duplicate
of the first rug we had in our place.
Only more so.
That's why I bought it for you.
It's your wedding present.
I asked them to bring it up
to see how it would look.
You can live with it for a while,
and if you don't like it...
I can send it back.
I promise, you won't send it back,
not with the scarf on it.
I just want you to let me show you
how it looks.
- Will you let me, Ellie?
- Certainly.
What's that?
The bedroom paper, miss.
You've made a mistake.
It's the wrong pattern.
- This is the one I selected.
- It was changed this morning.
- Who changed it?
- Isn't it beautiful?
This little rose pattern I picked out...
I guarantee you wouldn't like it if you
saw it on the wall, neither would Louie.
Lou was with me when I picked it out.
He liked it.
Men like anything.
I never gave you much advice.
First, you wouldn't take it.
Second, I've been married 35 years...
...and I've learned one thing.
Well?
Can't you read between the lines
what I'm saying?
It's not anything I can say
in so many words...
...and yet, it's something that,
if you don't handle it right...
Don't say anything about this to Mama.
About what?
It's all right.
It doesn't make that much difference.
- And if you don't like the chifforobe...
- I'll probably get used to it.
You are very sweet to admit you are wrong.
Look, the same wallpaper
we had when you were a little boy.
- What's wrong with Ellie?
- Ellie? Nothing. She just left here.
- What happened? Was it about this?
- The chifforobe?
It's not what she ordered. She wanted...
It wasn't practical. Not even mahogany.
- The drawers were too small.
- But she liked it.
She liked this wallpaper, too, at first.
But I convinced her that pattern was better.
More practical.
She's very sensible.
- You are lucky to get a girl like her.
- That's right.
I just had a nice talk
with your mother-in-law.
- What about?
- Lots of things.
Mostly about interior decorating,
especially wallpaper and chifforobes.
You know that wallpaper you picked out
for the bedroom?
I think it's wonderful.
- Your mother picked out another pattern.
- I saw it. It's terrible.
And so is that chifforobe.
- You mean, the one that just came in?
- I mean, the one that just went out.
I told them to take it back.
I'd have nightmares looking at that thing.
Lou Gehrig, I think
I could learn to like you.
I hope you didn't hurt Mom's feelings.
I probably did. But she'll get over it.
She'll have to.
You can't run a baseball team with two
captains or a household with two bosses.
There's only going to be one boss
in this house.
You'd better get that apron off,
and get your nose powdered.
Why?
I telephoned Sam Blake
to get the mayor over here right away.
What for?
I thought you wanted to get married.
"...giving the ring and join hands.
"Now therefore, I,
by virtue of authority reposed in me...
"I pronounce...
"I pronounce, they are man and wife."
The party is over.
We've got to get this house ready for living.
Put the bathtub in there. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Blake, you better arrange right away
for a leave of absence for Louie.
- Leave of absence? What for?
- Your wedding trip.
Atlantic City would be a good place.
Excuse me.
I haven't missed a game since I joined,
and I'm not going to now.
If he does, I'll get a divorce.
You mean you are not
going to have a honeymoon?
Of course. The Yankee Stadium.
We'd better go if Ellie wants to stop
to change her dress.
Holy Mackerel, I'll miss batting practice.
Pull over.
Fifty miles an hour on a thoroughfare.
Fifty-five to be exact, Officer.
I know it's terrible but...
...it'll be terrible if we don't get
to the Yankee Stadium in 15 minutes.
It'll be terrible if you don't get there
for the start of the game.
It will be terrible if Lou Gehrig
doesn't get there for the start of the game.
You know he hasn't missed a game
since he joined the Yankees.
Who'd you say?
Lou Gehrig.
- Hello, Mr. Gehrig.
- Hi, officers.
- This is Mrs. Gehrig.
- How do you do?
This is our 10th wedding anniversary.
We've been married 10 minutes.
- You just got married.
- What do you know about that?
Pardon me,
but the game starts in exactly 14 minutes.
What are we waiting for?
Do you want to get pinched
for holding up traffic?
- Who you got there, Joe?
- Lou Gehrig.
He's late for the game.
It's Lou Gehrig. Come on.
That's the way to go in there.
What are you doing, Lou?
Knocking the rice off of your spikes?
All right, pitch to me, now.
That was a thank you for marrying me.
- What?
- That was a thank you for marrying me.
What?
He says that was thank you for marrying him,
and we thank you, too.
You're welcome.
Not so bad for a guy
who nobody was going to remember.
- One more kissing the bride.
- Okay.
That's terrific. Hold it.
Thank you, Mr. Gehrig.
What about the one
where the bride kisses the groom?
Yeah.
I never knew you were
such a hound for publicity.
Publicity? I don't even care
if there's no film in their cameras.
All right, here we go.
Hold it.
Okay.
A girl's got to breathe.
- The best of luck to you, Lou.
- Thanks, Babe.
You'll get a great play on these pictures.
The day that Lou won
all three American championships.
Batting average, home runs...
He's got it wrong.
This is the day I got married.
- Come on, let's get this.
- That's a good one.
You've got to forgive me. I was held up.
The boss had a brainstorm.
He gabbled for two hours.
Finally I said,
"Look, Boss, this is Lou Gehrig's birthday.
"I'm master of ceremonies, so good-bye."
How are you anyway?
- I suppose Lou is sore at me?
- I wouldn't know.
What's going on here? Where is Lou?
I was hoping he was with you.
With me? Did he say...
I did see him after the game, he...
What time was that?
It was kinda late.
You see, we hung around for a while.
What did he say when he telephoned?
He didn't telephone.
He was probably detained somewhere.
Maybe something important.
No doubt.
Now, don't be like that.
You don't know how lucky you are.
Most women, when their husband's late,
have to worry.
They're either drunk
or run into a dame or something.
But you and Lou, why,
all you've got to do is sit pretty and smile.
I'll bet this is the first time he's late
since he's been married.
This is the fourth time, Sam.
That's nothing. Four times in 10 weeks.
That's perfectly understandable.
Have you tried calling up anywhere?
I don't have to call up. I know where he is.
Don't talk like that.
You know Lou is true-blue.
- That's what you think.
- Don't get hysterical.
- Things like this happen all the...
- I'm not hysterical.
I'm perfectly controlled.
I've just learned to face the facts.
- Where are you going?
- I'm going to get him.
- You can't do that.
- Yes, I can.
I tell you, you're wrong.
There's some explanation
that doesn't appear on the surface.
- You know where he is?
- Yes.
- You sure?
- Yes.
- How'd you find out?
- I caught him.
I don't believe it. I can't believe it.
You got to go back.
You can't walk in on him like this.
Yes, I can.
You can't make a scandal.
Think of the fans and how they'll feel.
I can't, I'm too selfish.
It almost kills my faith in human nature.
Lou Gehrig.
A guy with a wife like you.
Pal or no pal...
...l'm going to take a baseball bat
and bust his skull wide open.
I'm gonna make him wish
he was never born.
I'm gonna hound that guy
for the rest of his life.
Strike three. You're out.
Well, of all the dirty, low-down tricks...
You almost made me
have a nervous breakdown.
- What's the score, Lou?
- 23 to 22, end of the ninth.
Three men on bases.
He'll be right along now.
Don't talk to me, you Borgia.
Dad was right.
He knew a ballplayer when he saw one.
When you said that, the Chicago Rathskeller
jumped right up in my lap.
- That wasn't yesterday, was it, Tanglefoot?
- No.
I sure didn't know
what I was walking into that day.
"Mr. Gehrig, meet Miss Twitchell."
And I left my little world behind me.
Your world? What do you mean?
Baseball life is so different.
Sort of a little world all by itself.
You play it in the spring, summer, and fall,
and talk about it in the winter.
- You really eat, drink, and sleep it.
- Yes, you have had a dish of it.
- Here it is, spring again.
- Some spring.
Spring for a ballplayer.
Florida next week again.
Look, how's this?
These spring training trips
must be kind of dull for a girl.
How about you passing up
Florida this spring?
Take a little vacation for yourself.
All right.
It's been a long time
since you've palled around with the team.
Give you a little vacation, too.
- We have seen a lot of each other.
- Yes, it's an idea.
Yes, it is.
- You don't want to stay here, do you?
- You don't want to go without me, do you?
The winner.
You just handed me my next story
on a silver platter.
- How I Beat My Wife by Lou Gehrig.
- Nix.
- It's a piparoo.
- Over my dead body.
- It'll kill 'em.
- Lay off our private life.
- Then, what'll I write about?
- About half a column.
If I was in the Sahara Desert,
dying of thirst, you'd bring me vinegar.
I'll see you at the ballpark.
Hey.
That's dirty pool.
Why didn't you want Sam
to write about your private life?
Because that's something
that belongs to just the two of us.
It's been a pretty good,
little old private life at that, hasn't it?
Even though we never had a honeymoon?
We've never had anything else.
Hey. What's the idea?
You want a bust in the nose?
Just trying to clean up
some of that poison pen stuff of yours.
Look at that,
"Gehrig's accidental home run yesterday."
- I'm writing what Babe thinks.
- You don't need paper for that.
You can write all the Babe ever thought
on a piece of confetti.
That was pretty brainy, I suppose, having
Gehrig call Ruth "the Ex-King of Swat."
That's facts. Gehrig's writing facts.
Ruth will show you some facts
in his column tomorrow.
Any facts Ruth dreams up
will be topped by Lou Gehrig...
...without borrowing your opium pipe.
Come in.
- These just came, Mrs. Gehrig.
- Thank you.
Just like the kind Mom used to try to make.
It's Mom's recipe, as if you didn't know it.
Anybody home?
- Hello, Ellie. Hello, Lou.
- Hello, Pop.
- Hello, Lou.
- Mom.
- Eating breakfast?
- Lou's been raving about your recipe, Mom.
Don't let him eat too many, he'll get fat.
What if I do? Then I can quit baseball.
- What?
- Quit baseball? Louie, are you crazy?
I've always had a hankering
to go in for engineering, you know that.
Engineering.
The best ballplayer in the world
would waste his time like that.
- Lou always told me his Uncle Otto...
- Uncle Otto, Schmotto.
Digging ditches, that's all he ever did.
The world is full of Ottos.
But how many Lou Gehrigs are there?
Look at him, eating flapjacks
on the most important day of his life.
Important?
Don't tell me you have
forgotten what day this is?
My birthday? No.
- Ellie, I haven't forgotten?
- No. It's not my birthday, either.
Or Mom's or Pop's.
- It's not our wedding anniversary.
- I'm surprised at you, Ellie.
Today is the day Lou Gehrig is playing
his 2,000th consecutive baseball game.
- So what?
- What?
Look at him. Pretending he don't care.
I've got an idea.
What do you say you miss today's game?
You've gone crazy maybe.
No, don't you see?
It's no news when Lou's in the lineup,
the real news is if he misses a game.
- Man bites dog.
- That's right.
Stop joking and come on, get a wiggle on you.
The ballpark will be crowded,
and the fans will give you an automobile.
Why an automobile?
Maybe they will give him a yacht.
An automobile or a yacht,
or the Statue of Liberty. I'd better go.
All right, if that's the
way you feel about it.
But I warn you,
all you'll get is a horseshoe of roses.
Don't be so cynical.
- "Good luck, Lou Gehrig," on a ribbon.
- You don't appreciate Lou's importance.
- They'll give him an automobile at least.
- I say a yacht.
You don't appreciate my importance.
I'm going to get an automobile or a yacht.
If you insist, but you'll come home
with a horseshoe of roses!
Safe!
Why don't he bunt?
What's the matter with him?
- Three runs behind, and you want to bunt.
- The unexpected, Mom.
- Get onto yourself!
- He should wait him out.
The pitcher has been missing
the corners since the sixth inning.
If that's true, why don't you tell McCarthy
how to run his job?
Shut up.
McCarthy is going great today.
He has pulled three boners I know of.
How would you like to shut up yourself?
Say, why don't you both shut up?
Strike three. You're out!
What, no automobile?
No yacht?
I was lucky to get away with my life.
I struck out three times.
The last time, in the ninth,
with the bases full.
If I had my way, darling,
I'd give you the Yankee Stadium.
I wanted to knock a home run for you today,
but maybe I tried too hard.
"Good luck, Lou Gehrig."
If they only knew what I know.
If they only realized what lies back
of those 2,000 games you've played.
This is for the time in Chicago
you got beaned and went on playing.
This for having brown eyes!
That's for when you played 12 innings
in St. Louis with a broken toe.
Here's for being the
greatest fan a man ever had.
That's for when you had 103 fever
and played a double-header.
Here's for sitting up
all night and curing me.
Here's for when you had the flu
and wouldn't quit.
Here's for not letting me quit.
This is for all the times you've had
broken fingers and not told me about it.
Here's for putting up
with me all these years!
I've won fair and square.
Don't try to pretend...
What is it?
I must have sprained my
shoulder or something.
It felt kind of stiff at the game.
Maybe that's why I struck out.
I'll get the liniment.
That's the one, there.
Here we go.
On the hustle. Come on, babe.
That's the one.
Those kids don't know what to do
with their speed.
- Lucky you got out of the way so quick.
- Yeah.
Bill.
What's the matter with Lou?
You're out.
I certainly came down here
like an old ice wagon.
- That should have been a hit, easy.
- They can't all be hits.
I tell you, maybe you're trying too hard.
You can't try too hard.
Why don't you hit the shower,
and take the rest of the day off?
No. I need a lot of work.
The old man made it, six times around.
It's worse than being a golf widow, waiting
for your husband to run around a park.
I'm sorry to be so long.
- So, I'm slowing up?
- Sure.
I'll get a wheelchair and push you around.
What an exhibition. You call that baseball?
Gehrig booted the game.
Threw it down the drain.
That's a batting champion for you.
- Did you see him swing like an old lady?
- It's criminal.
They ought to give you your money back.
That game was just booted away.
I got better support than that
in the bush leagues.
Shut up.
I can't pitch and play first base, too.
That old man on first ought to have
some crutches to get around with.
What goes on here?
Just talked out of turn.
Save the fight for the field, boys.
You watch, Gehrig will come back.
He always does.
Every ballplayer has a slump eventually,
but in this case, it isn't just a slump.
It's obviously a breakdown.
- That's a lie.
- A dirty lie.
No, sir, he ain't through.
I tell you, Mr. Gehrig can't be through.
Gehrig'll come back.
He's made of iron. You wait and see.
15 years, then all of a sudden, he goes sour.
What's the answer?
Gehrig must be having trouble with his teeth.
Get back.
Strike two.
Strike three.
Joe.
You'd better send someone in for me.
I can't make it anymore.
You sure you want it that way?
Yup.
Dahlgren, get in there at first.
- Good luck.
- Thanks.
Your attention, please!
Dahlgren...
...now playing first base for New York...
...replacing Gehrig.
2,130 games.
14 years.
Play ball!
It's a routine, I'm telling you.
In a place like this,
they give you the x-ray...
...the cardiograph, the metabolism,
the fluoroscope, the works.
Then they're liable to tell you got dandruff.
It's happened time and again.
A friend came here...
Got any chewing gum, Sam?
Had a talk with the doctor the other day.
He said he never ran up against
a better physical specimen.
Strong as an ox, he said you were.
Talked to the x-ray guy, too.
What a send-off he gave you.
Heart okay, lungs okay, everything okay.
I'll bet you...
Here's the doc.
How did I do, Doctor?
I'm afraid you'll have to
give up baseball for a while.
- You see, Mr. Gehrig...
- Go ahead, Doc.
I'm a man who likes to
know his batting average.
I've only made a superficial examination
of the tests.
We shall need some new x-rays.
Give it to me straight, Doc.
Am I through with baseball?
I'm afraid so.
Any worse than that?
You heard what the doc said.
He's got to go over the tests again.
Is it three strikes, Doc?
You want it straight?
Sure I do, straight.
It's three strikes.
Doc, I've learned one thing.
All the arguing in the world
can't change the decision of the umpire.
How much time have I got?
Pardon me.
- Yes?
- Mrs. Gehrig is waiting.
Have her come up, please.
I don't want Mrs. Gehrig to know, ever.
I understand.
- But the newspapers...
- Sam here can take care of that.
- Can't you, Sam?
- Sure. I will.
Leave it to me. I'll cook up something...
Hi, Ellie.
Darling, the verdict's in.
I'm not such a bad ballplayer.
I've really got something, haven't I?
What is it?
I'd be cured by the time
I could learn to pronounce it.
- Can you pronounce it, Doctor?
- We really haven't concluded all our tests.
Excuse me.
- Yes?
- X-ray room is ready, Doctor.
Thank you.
Just one more picture, Mr. Gehrig.
Just one more for the record, Doc?
Right back, Ellie.
You'll never get all the pictures
of Lou into that scrapbook.
You'd think he was a glamour boy.
What did the doctor tell Lou?
Nothing. Nothing at all.
Some little thing with a long name.
Some kind of an "itis," I don't know.
He'll have to lay off for a while. So what?
He'll be back next season,
or the season after.
Tell me the truth, Sam.
I am telling the truth, honest.
I'd swear on a stack of Bibles.
You heard what the doctor said.
When is Lou going to die?
- Who told you?
- Nobody had to tell me.
I could read it in your eyes.
All of you.
It's all right, Sam.
I'll never let him know I know.
He's so young yet, so strong, and...
Ladies and gentlemen.
Lemonade, peanuts, and popcorn.
Given away free today
in honor of the great Lou Gehrig.
Bulletin.
Gehrig Day not a farewell but a come-on.
A ballyhoo to get more
money out of the Yanks...
...when Gehrig comes back
to the game next season.
Know what? We're gonna knock 'em dead
when we come back.
Do you think we can get $50,000
out of those tightwads?
Not a cent under $100,000.
It stands to reason, you'll be twice
as good after you've had a rest.
You know...
...we've never had a honeymoon.
Why shouldn't we have one now?
Sure. Better late than never.
What about Niagara Falls?
Sure. Then we could go up
to northern Canada and go fishing.
I've been thinking maybe
we could take a trip around the world.
All the things we've never
had time for before.
We've all the time in the
world now, haven't we?
We've got all the time in the world now.
You're a scream in that moustache.
What's that?
Take it out and see.
Open it.
I had that made up
of some of the hardware I've collected.
Like it?
I adore it.
I remember when you got
every one of these medals.
That's the one I got the most kick out of.
The batting championship I won
the year we were married.
Here, Ellie.
I've got a right to cry a little.
It's such a beautiful thing.
I wanted you to have it...
...because you've given me so much.
You've been so...
- Are you making love to me, you big ape?
- You bet I am, you dope.
Gehrig Day program.
It's Lou Gehrig.
Look. There's Lou Gehrig.
Right this way, Mr. Gehrig. Give him room.
- Stand back.
- Hello, Lou, old boy.
- When are you coming back, Lou?
- We sure miss you.
Mr. Gehrig, please.
Don't you remember me?
You knocked out two home runs for me
one afternoon.
Sure. I remember you.
- How are you?
- Just great.
I've been waiting here all afternoon
because I had to tell you something.
I just got in town today,
and I had to tell you.
I did what you said.
I tried hard, and I made it.
Look, I can walk.
That's great work, kid.
That's wonderful.
- Have you got a ticket for the game?
- Yes, sir, you bet.
- So long.
- So long.
62,000 people have jammed
the Yankee Stadium...
...to pay tribute to a man who, for 16 years,
has given everything that's in him.
Never in baseball has there been
such a spontaneous demonstration...
...of love and affection for one man.
He's known as "Larruping Lou"
and "The Iron Horse."
No matter what, he'll never be forgotten.
Nor will his great records.
They'll never forget his greatest record.
His amazing feat of playing
2,130 consecutive ball games...
...over a period of 16 years.
Everyone is here to show him
just what they feel in their hearts.
To say hail and farewell
to the pride of the Yankees.
The emotion on all sides is tremendous.
Around home plate,
all the celebrities standing there.
The beginning of the ceremonies,
Joe McCarthy comes forward.
Hands Lou Gehrig a plaque.
On that plague are two words. "Don't guit."
Nothing in Gehrig's nature
was the guitter type.
McCarthy puts it down, turns around,
receives a trophy and in turn...
...gives that trophy to Lou Gehrig.
The trophy is a trophy from the Yankees,
the teammates of Gehrig.
Here comes the mayor of New York City.
Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.
LaGuardia addresses a few words,
perhaps what Gehrig has meant to this city.
LaGuardia turns around, extends his hand,
and shakes hands with Lou.
Gehrig visibly impressed
with all this demonstration of affection.
Postmaster General of the United States,
Jim Farley.
Farley shakes Gehrig's hand,
Gehrig again trying to manage a smile.
Now, Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat.
Babe talks into the microphone.
Praise from the man who preceded
Lou Gehrig in the batting order.
Babe walks over and puts his arms
around Gehrig's shoulders.
Here they are. The heart of the
Murderer's Row of the Yankees.
Gehrig with his eyes down.
Manager Joe McCarthy addresses some remarks,
drawing applause from the boys.
McCarthy walks over to Gehrig, puts his
hand affectionately on his shoulder...
...starts leading Lou Gehrig over
to a whole galaxy of microphones.
He'll be saying a few words.
This whole crowd in the stadium hopes so.
Gehrig stands at the microphones,
visibly impressed, all choked up.
Listen to that crowd!
I have been walking on
ball fields for 16 years...
...and I've never received anything but...
...kindness and encouragement...
...from you fans.
I have had the great honor...
...to have played...
...with these great veteran
ballplayers on my left...
...Murderer's Row...
...our championship team of 1927.
I have had the further
honor of living with...
...and playing with these men on my right...
...the Bronx Bombers, the Yankees of today.
I have been given...
...fame and undeserved praise...
...by the boys up there
behind the wire in the press box...
...my friends, the sportswriters.
I have worked under
the two greatest managers of all time...
...Miller Huggins and Joe McCarthy.
I have a mother and father...
...who fought to give me health...
...and a solid background in my youth.
I have a wife...
...a companion for life...
...who has shown me
more courage than I ever knew.
People all say that I've had a bad break...
...but today...
Today I consider myself...
...the luckiest man on
the face of the earth.
Play ball!