With the coming of spring in 1939, the Yankees readied themselves to defend their two previous consecutive World Championships. At the very beginning of Spring Training, it was evident that something was not right with Lou Gehrig. Sportswriter James Kahn remarked at the time, "I think there is something wrong with him. Physically wrong, I mean. I don't know what it is, but I am satisfied that it goes far beyond his ball-playing. I have seen ballplayers 'go' overnight, as Gehrig seems to have done. But they were simply washed up as ballplayers. It's something deeper than that in this case, though. I have watched him very closely and this is what I have seen: I have seen him time a ball perfectly, swing on it as hard as he can, meet it squarely, and drive a soft, looping fly over the infield. In other words, for some reason that I do not know, his old power isn't there... He is meeting the ball, time after time, and it isn't going anywhere." Others took notice as well. Manager Joe McCarthy, who had always been one of Gehrig's closest mentors on the Yankees, tried to support Gehrig's meager play, hoping that he would eventually snap back to the form once considered as a given for the Yankee slugger.
It was not to be. Gehrig requested of manager McCarthy that he be removed from the Yankees starting lineup. At the insistence of Gehrig himself, in what has become one of the more legendary and poignant moments of the era, Gehrig mandated that he be permitted to deliver the lineup card to home plate on May 2, 1939 without his name written in the starting nine. With tears in the eyes of the once great and powerful Yankee slugger, Gehrig stoically presented the Yankees lineup card to the umpires with the name "Babe Dahlgren" written in as first baseman, so ending his streak of 2,130 consecutive games played. John Kieran of The New York Times wrote, "So they unhitched the Iron Horse from the old wagon, but Marse Joe McCarthy didn't order him to be taken behind the barn and destroyed." More tragically, it would mark the beginning of the final chapter in Gehrig's life, as he was diagnosed shortly thereafter with a terminal illness, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Although Gehrig would press on to deliver the most famous oration in sports history with his July 4, 1939 "Luckiest Man" speech, his stature as the "Iron Man" of baseball had come to an end. Fitting for a man of Gehrig's integrity, the "Iron Horse" succumbed to the horrid disease on June 2, 1941, at 10:10 p.m., sixteen years to the day after he had first replaced Wally Pipp as first baseman for the New York Yankees.
During Gehrig's illness much speculation swirled around its cause and given the slugger's prominence within the game, media coverage was extensive. In the August 18, 1940 edition of the New York Daily News sportswriter Jimmy Powers penned a headline story, "Has 'Polio' Hit the Yankees?". The story was in speculation that somehow Lou Gehrig had contracted polio and possibly infected other players given the Yankees' slump. Of course, the story was completely false and Gehrig was infuriated. As documented within period correspondence from Gehrig to his physician and also through additional newspaper accounts/player accounts a lawsuit was filed by Gehrig against the Daily News with additional legal action taken by the Yankees against the paper as well. Eventually the suit was settled in favor of Gehrig and Jimmy Powers was forced to issue an apology in the Daily News, a copy of which is included with this lot. In Gehrig's writings, he felt it of the greatest importance that the nature of his disease be properly reported to the public and as such the printed apology and clarification was mandated. On December 19, 1940, Lou Gehrig signed a General Release agreement in exchange for a settlement payment of $17,500 to end the lawsuit. Extremely rare, "Henry Louis Gehrig" full name signature in blue fountain pen is found at the bottom of the document. The autograph remains very bold rating 8/9 out of 10 although the labored nature of the signature is clearly evident.
By the end of 1940 Lou Gehrig's body had been ravaged by the disease. Although he was serving within a largely symbolic role at the New York Parole Board his letters and documents were all stamped with a rubber stamp of his signature due to his inability to properly sign from the effects of ALS. The offered Gehrig document represents one of, if not the, final autographs Gehrig would sign before his tragic passing just 5 1/2 months later. Its period notarization and contextual link to the Daily News lawsuit places this particulat Gehrig signature piece at the very highest level of significance for its medium and dating period. Includes full LOAs from PSA/DNA and JSA, October 6, 1940 New York Daily News section with Gehrig apology headline; File copy of the identical General Release; and a handwritten account of the related court proceedings by New York Yankee Tommy Henrich with signed letter: Document: EX, Signature: NM-NM/MT