On June 14, 1933, Lou Gehrig came closer than he ever had to seeing his legendary consecutive games streak snapped, not because of injury, but because of an ejection.
It happened at Fenway Park. The Yankees were on the wrong side of a 13-5 blowout, and tensions boiled over in the 7th inning. After a disputed call at second base, both Gehrig and manager Joe McCarthy were ejected by umpire Larry Summers. It was a rare show of emotion from the typically stoic Gehrig.
Ejections often came with suspensions, but in this case, Gehrig caught a break. McCarthy got a three-game suspension. Gehrig, perhaps due to his calm reputation or the minimal nature of his protest, avoided punishment, and his streak lived on, now at 1,249 straight games.
That streak would go on to reach 2,130 consecutive games, a mark that stood as the gold standard in sports for decades. However if he were to be suspended, he would’ve fell short of ever being the leader as Everett Scott played 1,307 straight games from 1916-1925. He would then have sat at 3rd all time in front of Steve Garvey’s 1,207 straight games played, while Cal Ripken Jr. would’ve broke the consecutive games streak much earlier, and could’ve fought Kevin Costner that one night instead of Camden Yards having “light issues.”
What’s happening
Thunder take game 4 to take series lead.
SGA scores 15 in final 4:38.
Judge ties game in 9th with home run, Red Sox win in 10.
Giants tied with Dodgers atop NL West after win.
This Day In Sports History
1952: Warren Spahn ties NL record held by Jim Whitney with 18 strikeouts in 15 innings over Cubs.
1965: Jim Maloney throws no hitter but loses in 11 innings.
1990: Nolan Ryan becomes 2nd pitcher to defeat every team (26 at time.)
1994: New York Rangers win 1st Stanley Cup in 54 years.
1998: Chicago Bulls win 3rd straight NBA title over Jazz in 6 games.
Random Stat Of The Day
There are 12 players tied for the most assists in a Stanley Cup game at 4. Evgeny Kuznetsov in 2018 the most recent to do so, and the only one since Joe Sakic in 1996.