Winter Auction 2015 closing February 7
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/8/2015
Offered is a scarce, and highly desirable, ticket stub for the "Lou Gehrig Memorial" ceremony held at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1941. The stub features a bust-length photo of the recently deceased Gehrig in the center and indicates the special memorial ceremony scheduled for that day. This is one of the most highly prized of all baseball stubs, and one of the very few baseball tickets notable for its tremendous display value with the highly visible Gehrig image. The Yankees' tribute to their former captain was scheduled for July 4th to honor Gehrig on the two-year anniversary of the “Luckiest Man Alive” speech he delivered before a packed Yankee Stadium house. Between games of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics, the Yankees planned to dedicate a monument to Gehrig in center field alongside that of Miller Huggins, who, in 1929, had also prematurely died. While all of the necessary preparations were in place that Independence Day, the weather did not cooperate and both games, along with the ceremony, were rained out and rescheduled for Sunday, July 6th. So, it was actually two days after the printed date when this ticket was used. While that historic day certainly belonged to the memory of the "Iron Horse," it is also important to note Joe DiMaggio hit safely in both games of the re-scheduled doubleheader, raising his hitting streak to 48 consecutive games. The stub measures 2-1/2 x 3-5/16 inches, and exhibits a small crease in the lower left corner and minor distress around the edges. Gehrig’s portrait remains free of any wear. The “GRANDSTAND ADMISSION” ticket at a 1941 cost of “$1.10” is numbered “6496.”