Friday marked the 75th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's "Luckiest Man" speech delivered at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939. Strange that one so sick at the age of 37 is known as a baseball iron man who played while healthy in 2,130 consecutive games, and that streak began when Gehrig was inserted in the New York lineup on June 2, 1925, because the Yanks' regular first baseman was not feeling well.
Wally Pipp, so the story goes, came down with a headache on that day, so manager Miller Huggins replaced Pipp with Gehrig. The newcomer started hitting right away, sustained a high level of play and remained as the Yankees' first sacker every day for the next 14 years. He went on to become one of the greatest players in the history of the game.
While not quite as dramatic, injuries or batting slumps experienced by a trio of Central League infielders here in Japan opened the door for fill-ins who apparently wanted to play so badly, they stepped up their efforts, becoming stars on their teams and achieving status among the Top 10 hitters in the CL.