SABR member Marty Appel, Lou Gehrig become ‘Larchmont Luminaries’
From the Larchmont (New York) Historical Society on April 20, 2015, with mention of SABR member Marty Appel:
On April 19, 2015, Baseball Hall of Fame first baseman Lou Gehrig and best-selling author and publicist Marty Appel were inducted into Larchmont Luminaries by the Larchmont Historical Society. The annual award is given to prominent Larchmonters, one living and one posthumous, and are selected based on their outstanding contributions to the arts and athletics.
Past Larchmont Luminaries honorees have been actor John Barrymore, Academy Award-winning film editor Andrew Mondshein, actor/film producer Mary Pickford, Academy Award-winning film producer Leslie Mondshein, Pulitzer Prize-winning theater critic Walter Kerr, playwright/author David Carlyon, author/playwright Jean Kerr, and Tony Award- and Nobel Prize-winning theatrical producer Barbara Whitman.
Lou Gehrig (1903-1941) played baseball for the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1939. Known as the “Iron Horse,” Gehrig played in 2,130 consecutive games, a record that stood for 65 years. In 1939, he was diagnosed with ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, now commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease. He lived with his wife, Eleanor, in the Stonecrest Apartments at 21 North Chatsworth Avenue in Larchmont from 1934 to 1940.
Marty Appel, who lived in Larchmont for 20 years, is considered the leading authority on the New York Yankees. His twenty books include Pinstripe Empire: The New York Yankees From Before the Babe to After the Boss, and the children’s version, Pinstripe Pride.
As the Yankees public relations director, he knew and worked with Lou Gehrig’s widow and would always call her the morning after Pride of the Yankees was on TV to tease her about how good she looked in it. (Actress Teresa Wright played Eleanor in the film.)
Appel currently heads Marty Appel Public Relations, a major boutique agency based in New York City serving clients largely in the world of sports but also in publishing, education, consumer products, medicine, and not-for-profit.
Read the full article here: http://larchmonthistory.org/2015/04/appel-gehrig-pride-of-larchmont-yankees-to-become-larchmont-luminaries-april-19/
Originally published: April 27, 2015. Last Updated: April 27, 2015.