The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-08-15
COL. JAKE'S FAIR-HAIRED
BOY.
BY EDWARD NEWHOUsE

1t happened for the first time when
the Yanks went to Sportsman's Park
in st. Louis for the final game of
the 1923 World Series. Heciled by
Cardinal players, Ruth strobe to The
plate in one of the early innings and
raised three pudgy fingers to indi-
cate the number of home runs he
would hit in the course of the day.
IN a later inning, after his third
four-base hit had streaked into the
roaring center field. Lou Gehrig
came to bat and hit the first pitched
ball into the right field bleacher
Then the third game of last years
series against the Cubs. Again Ruth
raised his hand, this time with the
index finger stretched toward the
distant center field Cub players
streamed out of the dugout in body
to jeer. Ruth called his shot and
made it. Not spectator but con-
cades it was the big baseball moment
of his life. Lou Gehrig came to bat
and hit the first pitched ball into
the right field bleacher.
Ever since Gehrig started his con-
tinuous game streak in 1925, he has
been the prince the second
fiddle. the anti-climax. He has con-
sistently topped Ruth in most every
important department. He has led
the league in batting, number OF hits
made and runs batted in. He has
polished up his work around first
base until he became more than a
competent fielder.
But sports writer's declared he had
no color and the deadly accusation
stuck. Twenty dollar-a-wse clerks
and starving taxi drivers wagged
their heads at the spectacle of poor
eclipsed Lou and his annual $4,000
pittance.
Now, with Ruth's perceptible if in
termittent fading. the first baseman
is coming into his own. Suddenly
publicity men, ballyhooers, sport
writer's whose bread and butter it is
to create mythical figures, come to
a realization of his sterling qualities.
Gehrig is elf-effacing, Gehrig loves
his mother, Gehrig doesn't drink.
doesn't smoke, doesn't stay out
nights. Gehrig, the college football
player, Gehrig who worked his way
up. Gehrig the massive, the righteous
Rock of Gibraltar
Lou Gehrig is about to snap the
record for continuous games played,
Everett Scott has been invited to see
his record fall, q good gag, good for
boxes and even feature stories in
local sheets. The Yanks are tired
and patiently slumping, but the merry
music of the turnstiles continues.
While Carl Hubbell stages q Tim
ming shutout performance in the lit
eral solitude of the Polo Grounds,
As 900 come to the Stadium during a
Washington game.
Lou himself is slumping. His field
ing is spottier than ever before and
his batting average is lowering dam
gerously near the 800 mark. Lou
of the .343 lifetime average is being
outhit by both Chapman and Dickey.
Mothers boy is riding tidal wave
Of publicity. Even his own hitherto
stolid soul has been seized by the
creative urge which so often assails
prominent athletes. He unburdens
himself in Mr.. Bernarr MacFadden's
Liberty" with piece tagged Am I
Jealous of Babe Ruth?"
Jake Rupperts fair-haired boy
bears no ill-will, it develops, It's all
for the team. He proposes to live
out his heros lease on depression
basis, sans Ruth's lavish display. He
speaks winged words, haunting, pos
sibly because Of the ghost they bring
to mind.
I'm not rich in the accepted sense
of the word, but what millionaire can