The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-03-18
Talking
ITOvER
BY JOE WILLIAMS

CT. PETERSBURG, Fla, March
~ 16.-They say Babe Ruth is
the IDOL OF the American boy. II
this is so, then his companion in
swatting, Lou Gehrig. should be
acclaimed the idol Of the American
mother.
Gehrig's mother is down here in
the Yankee baseball camp. A plump.
pleasant, kindly German woman.
You see her at all the ball games.
sitting in the slatternly stands.
beaming out at her boy. No other
attraction is great enough to keep
her away from the park when her
boy Is playing.
In the mornings before the game YOU
see the two Of them walking together on
81 big chairs. side BY side. in the LOBBY hS.
In the dining room a small separate table
u hs Ysnf fes t lonnd Here IN the midst
and talking. the gray-haired mother and
the biz, strapping curly-haired son
back to the time when Young Gehrig came came
i3 nfsn1 INTO tas world husky bawling
ing folks. made a pledge. Somehow and
IN some way they would see to it that this
boy went through college.
Z wasn't 50 .easv. TO get the funds to-
COOK At one of the coiumpia ar frat Sal e
S n1ls 70 tns assemble sem s1rDlH: which per-
the drudRery the family was supremelv
happy. one Of these DAYS college d.
plora would hang from the living room
TINE boy went to Columbia where
i he starred on the baseball and
football fields. Even in his fresh
man year, big league managers be-
gan to make him offers. Left to
his own choice the boy would have
jumped at the first proposal. But
Mon and Pop had to be considered
and the diploma.
Midway through his sophomore
year a blight fell over the family
circle. Nom was taken critically
i'll, and bills mounted up for doc
tors, nurses and medicine. There
was only one way to pay them. The
boy accepted bonus from the
Yankees and signed $400 monthly
contract.
Nom didn't know ANYTHING about this
q tell her-atTsid the shock might bring
o.; on a relapse; She had already. picked out
A little later on she grew suspicious.
The boy had changed his routine was
hours. She grew aiarmed-was her bow
running around with bad companions?
Finally it came out-he had Joined the
X, Y,stnkees; Just TO be sure she insisted on
The game started but her boy was not
manP Carefully it V was I e%plained that he
an active PLAYER, and that during the
the dugout. But she could see him If she
came to the park earlY-even the rockies
hit In batting practice.
NOU know how mothers are
4 about boys, They always be-
lieve them, but they want to see
for themselves. So, Mrs. Gehrig's
first glimpse Of Lou the ball player
was as a kid recruit in the batting
cage, and even as she sat there
watching him, she was weighted
down with melancholy.
The diploma was gone forever. In
its place today there hangs another
one. 1t reads: THE most valuable
ball player of 1927"
That was the year Nom (she is still Nom
to Gehrigl underwent an operation that
left her lowering on the brink of death.
remembering her early sacrifices. Gehrig
had been planning for several years to
build her a fine home out in the country
where she could spend her remaining years
in comparative luxury.
While she was still In the hospital. hang
Ing on to life by a thin shred he built
the present Gehrig home in New Rochelle.
Youthful like. he put his entire savings
into It, There was no money left to buy
furniture. So he went out and played pro-
fessiona basketball Nom knew nothing
about the home until she was brought
"YoI gotta get we'll now" said the
proud Gehrig. We can't let this swell
PLACE 20 to waste.
has gained eighty pounds. and at So she
is an amazing picture of health,
you ask me the greatest thrill baseball !
has brought me"P repeats Gehrig. 1T
was that--that home