Season’s Greetings From the Iron Horse’s Home: A Holiday Card From Eleanor and Lou Gehrig

Lou Gehrig kept his public life public and his private life private, and that makes a card like this uncommon. The inside carries the printed message “Joyous Greetings of the Season...” with the names “Eleanor and Lou Gehrig,” a holiday card sent from the Gehrig household. Because it carries both names, it dates from after their wedding. They married on September 29, 1933, and Gehrig was rushed by motorcade to Yankee Stadium for that afternoon’s game, and Lou died in June 1941, so the card comes from one of the holiday seasons between those dates. Those were the years of the streak, the Hall of Fame, and his illness. He played 2,130 consecutive games from 1925 through 1939, and on July 4, 1939, the Yankees retired his number 4, the first number retired in major league history, as he said goodbye in his farewell speech at Yankee Stadium. He was elected to the Hall of Fame that December, with the usual waiting period waived.

Eleanor is the other half of the story. Born Eleanor Grace Twitchell in Chicago, she continued to promote her husband’s legacy and contribute to ALS research after his death, donating $100,000 to Columbia University, which established the Eleanor and Lou Gehrig ALS Center, and giving the remaining memorabilia in her possession to the Hall of Fame. She never remarried. A card that bears both their names comes from the couple’s life together, the one that Eleanor spent the rest of her life protecting. It shows light toning and minor wear consistent with its age. A small piece of ephemera from the home of one of baseball’s most admired figures is a fine way to own a part of the Gehrig story that doesn’t involve a bat or a uniform.