Remembering Lou Gehrig ... and Wally Pipp

Lou Gehrig's major-league-record streak of 2,130 games played started 100 years ago Sunday — when he pinch-hit for shortstop Paul Wanninger in the eighth inning of the Yankees' 5-3 loss to the Senators at Yankee Stadium. There was no significance to Gehrig's appearance at the time. The story of the game was Babe Ruth's return after missing eight weeks because of an illness — that at one point threatened Ruth's entire season — after collapsing at a train station in Asheville, N.C. following a spring training game.

Though that first appearance was a footnote to the Gehrig streak, it came with a bit of irony. Paul Wanninger had replaced Everett Scott, whose "iron man" major-league record of 1,307 consecutive games played was broken three weeks earlier when he was benched with the Yankees off to a 5-11 start without Ruth. He was hitting .204 at the time. (Scott played the first 832 games of the streak with the Red Sox from 1916-21).

Gehrig wasn't much better than Scott at the time — hitting just .174 with no home runs and one RBI in 23 at-bats as a bit player. In fact, Gehrig had not started a game in a month. But after starting in place of Wally Pipp on June 2 — 100 years ago Monday — Gehrig was on his way. He went 3-for-5 in that game, homered against the Browns three days later and was on his way. Gehrig hit .348 with six home runs and 14 RBIs that month. He finished the season hitting .295 with 20 home runs and 68 RBIs in 126 games.

Less than a month before Lou Gehrig started his record streak of 2,130 games played, teammate Everett Scott had his big-league record of 1,307 consecutive games played broken when he was benched for Paul Wanninger on May 6, 1925.

The 32-year-old Pipp, who was hitting .244 with three home runs and 24 RBIs in 42 games at that point, never started again for the Yankees. He went 1-for-14 the rest of the season — his only single against the Tigers as a replacement for Gehrig.

But Pipp, who had hit .295 with 19 triples, nine home runs and 110 RBIs in 1924, was not finished. After the Yankees sold Pipp to the Cincinnati Reds, Pipp hit .291 with 15 triples, six home runs and 99 RBIs in 1926. He hit .260 for the Reds in 1927 and .283 in 95 games in 1928, played with Newark in the minor leagues in 1929 and retired.

Lou Gehrig flied out as a pinch-hitter against the Senators on June 1, 1925. His name would be in every Yankees box score for the next 14 seasons.

A day after Lou Gehrig's playing streak started when he pinch-hit against the Senators, Gehrig started at first base in place of Wally Pipp — a change that made the sub-head in this New York Times story.

Lou Gehrig replacing Wally Pipp was noted in the New York Times story, with Gehrig getting two singles and a double in the game.

The box score from Gehrig's first start during his consecutive-games playing streak.

Gehrig's legacy ranks with Jackie Robinson's among the most revered in baseball history. On Monday, every player in a big league game will wear No. 4 in Gehrig's honor — more than 86 years after Gehrig's final game in the major leagues and 84 years after he died at 37 of amyotrophic lateral scleroris (ALS), which is now known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

But let the record show that Wally Pipp should be far from the other end of the legacy spectrum. Pipp played 10 seasons with the Yankees, hitting .284 with 118 triples, 77 home runs and 809 RBIs. He was the Yankees' all-time leader in home runs until Ruth passed him late in the 1920 season.

Pipp played on three pennant-winning teams with Ruth and the Yankees in 1921-23, hitting .296 with 103 RBIs in 1921; .329 with 94 RBIs in 1922; and .304 with 109 RBIs in the 1923 when the Yankees won their first World Series. Lou Gehrig deserves his day. But Wally Pipp deserves a moment — a moment when his name is not connected to Lou Gehrig.