Athletes from Washington Heights

STAR ATHLETE

Lou Gehrig

Lou Gehrig was born on June 19, 1903 in New York City. He was the son of German immigrants, and was the only one of four children, who survived. Both his parents, Christina and Heinrich worked tirelessly in order to make ends meet.

Lou’s mother wanted Lou to receive a good education, and thus he attended Columbia University in 1921 on a football scholarship for an engineering degree. Before his first semester even began, John McGraw, New York Giants manager, advised him to play summer professional baseball. After a dozen of games, he was discovered and consequently was banned from playing collegiate sports during his freshmen year. In the following years at Columbia University, Lou played as a fullback during the football season, and as a pitcher and player during the baseball season. A baseball scout, Paul Krichell saw Lou’s skills and was so impressed that he signed him to the Yankees that year.

During Lou’s career, he set several major league records including the most career grand slams – 23 – and most consecutive games played – 2,130. Though both records were broken by Alex Rodriguez and Cal Ripken, Jr. respectively. His career ended in 1939 when he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), now known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. This diseased forced him to retire at age 36, and was the cause of his death two years thereafter.

Other Notable Athletes:

Pedro Alvarez is a baseball player who was drafted second overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft.

Alex Arias is a Dominican-American former Major League Baseball player.

Rod Carew is a former professional baseball player.

Luis Flores is a former NBA point guard.

Manny Ramírez is a Dominican baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Alex Rodriguez is a Dominican-American baseball player for the New York Yankees.

Vin Scully is a sportscaster for the Los Angeles Dodgers.