This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 12/10/2001.
Lou Gehrig was the pride of the yankees, and this history-drenched Yankee cap worn by Gehrig during his illustrious and tragically-shortened Hall of Fame career, is the pride of the fleet in Gehrig memorabilia. We can think of few items that could make one gulp in awe like this antique of baseball royalty, evoking as it does the deeply ingrained image of the Iron Horse, whom we know mainly from old newsreels as a man with knee-high pants, a simple No. 4 across his wide back, and a small "NY" logo stitched into his cap -- the same kind of hat those newsreels show him doffing at his farewell address at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939 when he humbly called himself "the luckiest man on the face of the earth." The spine-shivering appeal of a genuine Gehrig cap cannot be overestimated. Touch it, gape at it, and you are transported back to when Larrupin' Lou came off the Columbia campus, won the first base job and played every game for 16 seasons, slamming 493 home runs and compiling a .340 average before a rare disease claimed him with terrible suddenness. The well-worn condition of the cap, with its sweat-stained bill and shredded leather headband, attests to long extra-inning doubleheaders under a blazing sun and Gehrig's own competitive fire, as well as his pride in his gear, as there is a delicately-stitched "H.L. Gehrig" on the headband next to the "Spalding" label. In the world of collectibles, the owner of this rare treasure will surely be able to call himself the luckiest man on the face of earth.