The home jersey Lou Gehrig wore during his final dominant Major League Baseball season is up for auction, and experts estimate it could fetch between $3 million and $4 million, making it one of the most expensive sports garments ever sold.
Lou Gehrig’s legendary season
The year 1937 marked the last great chapter of the “Iron Horse” before ALS, the disease that eventually cut short his career and his life, began to take its toll. It was an extraordinary campaign: 37 home runs, 159 RBIs and a .351 average, figures that today would be considered worthy of an MVP.
More impressively, Gehrig struck out only 49 times all season, an almost unimaginable figure in the current era, where home run leaders easily exceed 200 strikeouts.
That combination of discipline, power and durability cemented Gehrig as one of the most important figures in sports history.
Authenticity confirmed by experts
The jersey, with the traditional pinstripes and iconic interlocking NY, is being made available to the public through SCP Auctions, which put the garment through a rigorous verification process.
Three of the country’s leading authentication companies –Resolution Photomatching, Sports Investors Authentication and MeiGray– compared period photos and used advanced textile analysis methods to confirm its authenticity.
Unlike today’s MLB, where players wear multiple uniforms per season, in the 1930s it was common for a single jersey to be worn for dozens of games. This uniform was no exception.
The iconic games in which Gehrig wore it
Among the confirmed uses, the jersey was present on August 5, 1937 in a game against the White Sox, where Gehrig hit two home runs and drove in five runs.
He also used it in Game 2 of the 1937 World Series, where the Yankees defeated the Giants 8-1. Gehrig went 1-for-2 with two walks in that game.
The garment also appears in the team’s official 1937 portrait and in the photograph that inspired the famous “Iron Horse” plaque in Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park.
The eternal legacy of the “Iron Horse”
Although he returned for the 1938 season, Gehrig was no longer the same. The first symptoms of ALS began to weaken him, until he finally retired in June 1939.
Almost a century after his debut with the Yankees, Gehrig remains one of the most dangerous hitters to ever stand at the plate and one of the most beloved figures in American sports.
The auction will conclude on Saturday, and collectors are already anticipating that bidding could break records.
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