How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

No place, 1927. Press photograph of Lou Gehrig; typed newsreel slip mounted on verso ("The Two Big Guns of the N.Y. Yanks"), dated July 3, 1927. 7 x 5 in. (178 x 127 mm).

A fine and powerful Type 1 press photograph of baseball legend Lou Gehrig, focusing closely on the powerful hands that helped make him one of the most celebrated baseball players of all time. The image recalls the strong tonal contrasts and intimate compositions associated with the work of noted baseball photographer Charles Conlon (1868-1945), whose best-known image of Gehrig was a close-up photograph of his eyes.

Over sixteen years with the New York Yankees, Gehrig amassed a lifetime batting average of .340, with 2,721 hits, and 493 home runs. The 1927 season in particular was noteworthy both for Babe Ruth achieving a record 60 home runs and for Gehrig's strong showing of a .373 batting average, 218 hits, and 175 RBIs (breaking Ruth's 1921 record of 168), one of the greatest showings of any batter in baseball history. That year the Yankees swept the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 to win the World Series, with Gehrig named MVP. Gehrig's record of playing in 2,130 games stood until 1995, when passed by Cal Ripken, Jr.

On July 4, 1939 the Yankees retired Gehrig's number 4 in an elaborate ceremony. Almost two years later, he succumbed to the disease that now bears his name. During his illness, while at the Mayo Clinic, Gehrig had his hands x-rayed. It was found that he had seventeen healed fractures, including each of his fingers having been broken at least once, a testament to the incredible power and strength he'd displayed throughout his legendary career.

We can trace no other examples of this powerful photograph ever being offered on the market, nor can we locate an image of it in online resources or contemporary newspapers.