Q 01/05

In 1935, with Babe Ruth gone, manager Joe McCarthy gave Lou Gehrig which role?

A) Player-manager

B) Team captain

C) Hitting coach

D) Club vice president

Answer · why

B) Team captain

Team captain. It was as captain that he carried the lineup card to the umpires on May 2, 1939, with his own name missing from it for the first time in...

Q 02/05

Which famous baseball nickname belonged to Lou Gehrig?

A) The Big Train

B) The Sultan of Swat

C) The Iron Horse

D) The Georgia Peach

Answer · why

C) The Iron Horse

The Iron Horse. It was old slang for a steam locomotive, and it fit: X-rays later showed fractures that had healed while he kept playing.

Q 03/05

Gehrig's 2,130-game streak began on June 1, 1925, when he entered a game in what role?

A) Pinch runner

B) Pinch hitter

C) Relief pitcher

D) Defensive replacement

Answer · why

B) Pinch hitter

Pinch hitter. He batted for shortstop Pee Wee Wanninger that day and only afterward took over first base, where he stayed for the next 14 years.

Q 04/05

In 1939 Gehrig became the first MLB player to receive which honor?

A) Lifetime contract

B) Retired number

C) Stadium statue

D) Named ballpark

Answer · why

B) Retired number

Retired number: no Yankee has worn No. 4 since, and the gesture caught on so well that the club has now retired every number from 1 through 9.

Q 05/05

Which disease ended Gehrig's career and is now often named after him in the US?

A) Multiple sclerosis

B) Parkinson's disease

C) Duchenne muscular dystrophy

D) Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Answer · why

D) Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, destroys the body's motor function but spares the mind. Doctors gave Gehrig three years at best, and he died ju...