Lou Gehrig’s Three ‘Lost’ Columbia Home Runs

Lou Gehrig was deemed ineligible for all sports for the 1921–22 school year at Columbia University after playing in 12 games for the Hartford Senators, a pro team. (ROBERT MULDOON)

 

Columbia University record books state that Lou Gehrig hit seven home runs during his single 19-game college season in 1923.1 But the record books somehow overlook three additional home runs Gehrig hit for Columbia, likely because he hit them in non-college games he played in before he had graduated high school, and were against professional minor league teams (including a Brooklyn Negro League team, which was considered a minor league team at the time).

Here, for the first time, his “lost” home runs are “found,” along with details of another home run hit off of the teenaged Gehrig’s bat—the longest home run ever hit at Columbia’s South Field.

GEHRIG’S TWO “LOST” HOME RUNS

April 6, 1921—vs. Hartford Senators

In spring 1921, while still attending Commerce High School on 65th Street, 17-year-old Lou Gehrig enrolled in a Columbia extension course, prior to matriculation that fall. With Gehrig on campus but still finishing up his high school diploma, Columbia coach Andy Coakley, a former American League pitcher who played in the 1905 World Series, permitted him to participate in preseason workouts and non-college games.2

That April, Columbia hosted the Class A Eastern League Hartford Senators at South Field, located on the main campus between 114th and 116th Streets off Broadway.

“Coach Coakley took advantage of the game to try out some of his ineligible men,” the Columbia Spectator noted.3 In two at bats, in a 4–3 loss, the 17-year-old prodigy Gehrig smashed two home runs against pitcher “Big” Alton Durgin.

“The first went into the center field bleachers, almost clearing them and reaching the street while the second did clear the barriers and bounced out to Broadway somewhere,” the Hartford Courant reported.4

The second “went sailing out of the enclosure past a big sundial and almost into the School of Mines,” added the Hartford Times.5

The pitcher Durgin, “the Maine Giant, who has to stoop to get in any room” was recently signed by Hartford manager Arthur Irwin, who claimed “the Pine Stater has the makings of one of the best pitchers in the country in him.”6

The Courant, while butchering Gehrig’s last name, predicted: “They (Columbia) uncovered one slugger of the “Babe” Ruth type, who is going to make a name for himself on the Diamond when he becomes a regular student at the university. His name is Gahrig…”7

It wasn’t the first time Gehrig had attracted widespread attention. In 1920, just one year earlier, his City Champion Commerce High played Chicago’s Lane Tech at Cubs Park (later renamed Wrigley) for the two-city championship before 10,000 fans. With two out in the ninth, Gehrig, who turned 17 just a week earlier, hit a grand slam to seal a 12–6 win.

“The ball sailed out high and far and cleared the right wall screen by many feet, finally landing in Sheffield Avenue and bouncing to a front porch across the street. It was a blow of which any big leaguer would have been proud and was walloped by a boy who hasn’t yet started to shave,” the Chicago Tribune wrote.8

Soon after the Hartford exhibition, Irwin, nicknamed “The Old Sleuth,” signed Gehrig to play for the Senators beginning in June. Using the alias “Lou Lewis,” Gehrig had 12 hits in 46 at bats with no homers over 12 games. But the ruse to protect his amateur status failed. He was declared ineligible for all sports his freshman year, 1921–22.

Just weeks later, on July 16, Irwin fell or jumped from the steamer Calvin Austin on a trip from New York to Boston. Once described as “one of the slimier men in baseball,” he was living a double life, with families in both cities, and also suffering from terminal stomach cancer. 9

After Gehrig’s suspension ended a year later, he returned to South Field and Columbia athletics in October 1922, but not playing baseball. He celebrated the end of his suspension by playing his second sport, football, scoring three touchdowns in a 48–7 romp over Ursinus. Soon after, the 200-pounder was switched from halfback to the line, while still handling kick-offs. Columbia finished 4–4–1.

Baseball opened in February 1923 with pitcher and catcher drills. Coakley used his professional baseball connections to bring in Hall of Fame pitcher Chief Bender, his former Philadelphia Athletics teammate, to work with the team.10 In a March exhibition, the 19-year-old Gehrig, a first baseman and pitcher, picked up right where he left off two years ago.

GEHRIG’S THIRD “LOST” HOME RUN

March 27, 1923—vs. Brooklyn Royal Giants

In the first practice game, the Brooklyn Royal Giants, “a strong negro semi-pro aggregation” in the Eastern Colored League, defeated Columbia 6–5 at South Field.11 In addition to pitching three innings, Gehrig “was responsible for the Blue and White’s circuit drive, which he pounded out in the seventh, during which frame four runs were scored by the [Columbia] Lion.”12

Gehrig hit the homer off Otis “Lefty” Starks, who was in the midst of a 14-year Negro League career. The Giants’ starter, Andrew “String Bean” Williams, aged 49 or 50 at the time, kept a rabbit’s foot with him on the mound for luck, and had a 16-year pro career. String Bean once blamed a loss on forgetting his lucky charm.13

In his first official college game on April 3, Gehrig got off to an inauspicious start: he was ejected. “NYU Wins Weird Encounter” read the Columbia Spectator headline as Columbia, using five pitchers, was trounced 12–4.14 Relieving in the eighth, Gehrig was tossed for protesting a pitch. Batting third, he had one hit in three tries.

At Cornell on April 22, Gehrig clubbed his first official collegiate homer while notching 10 strikeouts in an 8–3 victory. “His circuit clout was the longest ever driven out on the new Cornell Field, the ball sailing high over the right field fence,” the Spectator wrote.15

At Rutgers, on April 26, Gehrig launched two more “circuit clouts” in a 9–4 victory in New Brunswick.16

His power surge continued as Columbia avenged its loss to NYU, 7–2. Gehrig’s fourth official home run and his first at South Field that season, “cleared the right field fence and bounded onto 116th Street,” the Spectator noted.17

In 1923, 116th Street was buzzing with two-way traffic, but today it is closed off as College Walk for pedestrians only. But back then, it traveled east behind the Journalism Building (which still stands at 2950 Broadway), and beyond the center field and right field grandstands.

The New York Times added more details to the location of Gehrig’s NYU blast to right field: “He put his 200 pounds into one of Carlson’s fast ones and sent it over the stands into 116th St for one of the longest homers ever made on South Field.”18

By now, the 19-year-old hitting prodigy was drawing comparisons: “Gehrig lived up to his reputation as the Babe Ruth of Columbia.”19

In an 11–3 romp over Cornell at home on May 11, Gehrig blasted his fifth official homer in his 14th game: “a tremendous clout that cleared the right field fence with many feet to spare.”20

Days later, against Fordham, Gehrig struck again at South Field with his sixth collegiate blast, while striking out 12, in a 8–2 win. The home run, which “went into the center field stands,” did not exit the grounds this time.21

Gehrig would hit one more homer for Columbia. And it was a homer that people would talk about for years.

 

In this 1920s aerial view of South Field, 116th Street extends right to left, behind the grandstands in right field and right-center, then proceeds directly behind the Journalism Building. The ancient sundial sits between the right field and right-center stands, just in front of 116th Street. (ROBERT MULDOON)

 

GEHRIG’S “LONGEST” HOME RUN

May 19, 1923—vs. Wesleyan

Gehrig entered Columbia’s May 19 contest against Wesleyan with a .516 batting average and six total home runs. The stage was set for his final, mythic home run, a Bunyanesque blow destined to create a legend all its own.

The New York Times set the scene, precisely tracking the “longest home run ever seen on South Field” on its parabolic trajectory to its final resting spot: “Gehrig’s terrific smash rose gently until it was above the border of the infield and outfield, then sailed on a straight line over the center field fence onto the small campus surrounding the School of Journalism.”22

Other papers followed the ball’s epic arc, too. “The four base clout was the longest hit ever made at Columbia. The sphere went over the center field stands and hit the School of Journalism building,” the Hartford Courant reported.23

The Spectator pinpointed additional details: “The prodigious smash cleared the fence between the North and West stands in center field and bounded in front of the Journalism Building.”24

The Times placed the blast into a proper historical context: “Gehrig did more than mark an epoch in hitting on the fading history of old South Field, which will give way to Baker Field as the Columbia diamond next year.”25

In fact, Columbia played two more seasons on South Field. But Gehrig’s was the last home run to ever leave the grounds. In 1924, Columbia hit but one homer all season—at West Point.26 In 1925, shortstop Charlie Kennedy smashed one to left, but the ball did not leave the stadium: “The ball was fielded back, but a home run was given on the ground rules.” By 1926, Columbia finally began playing at Baker Field in North Manhattan.

And so Gehrig’s “longest” home run was also the “last” home run to ever leave the South Field grounds. With Columbia going 10–8–1, he finished the 1923 season with a .444 batting average and seven home runs, a record that stood until 1978 (when the number of games per season increased to 32). Today, Gehrig still holds the single season slugging average record (.937). The New York Yankees, who had been scouting him all season, signed the “former idol of South Field” in April.27

NOTES ON SOUTH FIELD

From the late 1800s until the mid-1920s, South Field, between 114th and 116th Streets, was home to Columbia football and baseball. Home plate stood roughly in front of today’s John Jay Hall, built in 1927 at 511 W. 114th Street.

Center field lay spread out before the Journalism Building, 116th Street, with two-way flowing traffic, but closed off as today’s College Walk, extended behind Journalism and east past the center and right field grandstands.

Hamilton Hall stood in foul territory beyond the right field fence, while Hartley Hall was behind the right field foul line and first base grandstands.

The ancient Class of 1885 Memorial Sundial, a seven-foot sphere of green granite, stood behind the right-center field grand stands, but in front of 116th Street. In 1946, the large cracking sphere was removed, but the base still remains, and it is a popular rendezvous spot today.

Behind the center-left field stands was Furnald Hall (still at 2940 Broadway), with busy Broadway behind it. A well-struck ball over the left field fence could bound out into Broadway, snarling traffic.

Butler Library, built in 1934 at 535 W. 114th Street, today stands roughly along the third base and left field foul lines of South Field.

 

Here is a 1920s view of the ancient sundial beyond right field at South Field. It sits just before 116th Street with two-way traffic flowing east and west. Today 116th Street is closed off as a pedestrian-only College Walk, and the giant globe atop the sundial has been removed, leaving only the base, a popular meeting spot. (ROBERT MULDOON)

 

THE MYTHOLOGY OF GEHRIG’S COLUMBIA HOME RUNS

Jonathan Eig’s 2006 book Luckiest Man regaled readers with much of the mythology of Gehrig’s home runs:

For decades, Columbia students and faculty would recall those home runs as if they had been rocket blasts. One bash reportedly broke a window in Hartley Hall, another was said to have smashed a sundial, dedicated to the class of 1885, 450 feet from home plate, and yet another was reported to have nearly knocked out a dean on the steps of the Low Memorial Library.28

The movie Pride of the Yankees dramatized a window-shattering shot to center—where the Journalism Building, today renamed Pulitzer Hall, stands.29 The Columbia Hall of Fame, where Gehrig was inducted, recounted an “opposite-field shot into a second-story window of the Journalism School.”30

In Iron Horse, biographer and Columbia alumnus Ray Robinson quoted a first-hand account from John Donaldson, a football teammate of Gehrig’s:

I was sitting one afternoon, cramming for an exam in Hartley Hall, when I heard a bunch of students down below give a big yell. I looked out the window just in time to see a ball bouncing off the top of the sundial, maybe some 450 feet from home plate. And there was Lou standing there, in his baggy knickers, grinning from ear to ear. You don’t forget things like that.31

Broken dorm windows, smashed ancient sun dials, berobed deans strafed by aerial bombardment, journalism classrooms in the crosshairs—Gehrig’s legend has spawned many myths. But even with all the embellishments, Gehrig’s heroics may, in fact, be understated.

His home runs are officially seven—but those are only the ones hit against college opponents in the 1923 season. If you dig deeper, beneath the misty shrouds of folklore and hyperbole, you’ll discover the three “lost” home runs—against professional teams and pitchers, including Negro League players denied the chances to play in Organized Baseball.

And so, if you count those, then the legend of Lou Gehrig grows greater still: 10 career home runs, all hit as a teenager, including the “last” and “longest” ever hit out of South Field in Morningside Heights.

AUTHOR’S PLEA

As a Columbia Journalism graduate, I hope one day to find a marker on the marble steps of Pulitzer Hall reading: “Lou Gehrig hit 10 home runs for Columbia between 1921–23, including South Field’s longest on May 19, 1923, against Wesleyan, launched from home plate in front of today’s Jay Hall to these very steps.”

Or maybe a marker could be placed at the sundial, near today’s College Walk, once bustling as 116th Street. Wherever the plaque landed, it would be a landmark and fitting tribute to one of America’s enduring heroes.

And, greater still, if one day ALS—“Lou Gehrig’s Disease”—is cured, the marker will stand forever as a living shrine and testimony to one of mankind’s greatest victories.

ROBERT MULDOON is a graduate of Phillips Andover Academy, Bates College, and Columbia Journalism School. He is the author of the historical novel Brass Bonanza Plays Again, wherein Rube Waddell appears as a guardian angel to star-crossed, homeless goon Tiger Burns. It’s a heartwarming tale of redemption for both. The book is available from the author at MuldoonRA@gmail.com.

 

Notes

1. https://gocolumbialions.com/honors/hall-of-fame/lou-gehrig/1.

2. Norton Chellgren, “The Short Career of Lou Lewis,” SABR Baseball Research Journal, 1975.

3. “Blue And White Batsmen Oppose NYU Today,” Columbia Spectator, April 7, 1921: 1.

4. “Irwin’s Tribe Wins In Game Against Collegians,” Hartford Courant, April 7, 1921: 16.

5. “The Short Career of Lou Lewis.”

6. “Over The Wire From Hackensack,” Hartford Courant, April 7, 1921: 16 (Note: Durgin did not stick with Hartford and later pitched for the University of Vermont).

7. “Irwin’s Tribe Wins In Game Against Collegians.”

8. “New York Preps Down Lane Tech in Hit Fest, 12–6,” Chicago Tribune, June 27, 1920.

9. Daniel Levitt, Ed Barrow: The Bulldog Who Built the Yankees’ First Dynasty (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008), 37–38.

10. “Battery Squad Stages Hard Drill in the Cage,” Columbia Spectator, March 9, 1923: 1.

11. “Lion Nine Will Face St. Johns Saturday,” Columbia Spectator, March 28, 1923: 1.

12. “Columbia Varsity Loses to Royal Giants,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 28, 1923: 23.

13. “Ponies Humble Giants in Fast, Well-Played Game,” The Morning Union, April 21, 1923: 16.

14. “NYU Wins Weird Encounter,” Columbia Spectator, April 4, 1923: 1.

15. “Gehrig Stars as Lion Routs Cornell Nine,” Columbia Spectator, April 23, 1923: 1.

16. “Home Runs Mark Win Over Rutgers,” Columbia Spectator, April 27, 1923: 1.

17. “Gehrig’s Playing Breaks Violet’s Winning Streak,” Columbia Spectator, April 30, 1923: 1.

18. “Columbia Checks N.Y.U on Diamond,” New York Times, April 29, 1923: 1.

19. “Columbia Gets Revenge for its N.Y.U Defeat,” Brooklyn Eagle, April 29, 1923: 74.

20. “Gehrig Checks Red and White for 11–3 Victory,” Columbia Spectator, May 14, 1923: 1.

21. “Fordham Fails To Hit Gehrig; Lion Wins 8–2,” Columbia Spectator, May 16, 1923: 1.

22. “Gehrig Stars in Columbia Victory,” New York Times, May 20, 1923: 2.

23. “Columbia Bats 500 As It Wins From Wesleyan,” Hartford Courant, May 20, 1923: 36.

24. “Locals Crush Wesleyan Nine With 19 Hits,” Columbia Spectator, May 21, 1923: 1.

25. “Gehrig Stars in Columbia Victory.”

26. “Three Lion Players Are Tied For Lead in Batting Average,” Columbia Spectator, May 23, 1924: 1.

27. “A New ‘Sisler’ on the Horizon,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 14, 1923: 26.

28. Jonathan Eig, Luckiest Man (Simon & Schuster, 2006), 37.

29. Leslie A. Zukor, “One Hit Wonder: Busting a Major Myth About Lou Gehrig,” Columbia Magazine, Spring/Summer 2023.

30. https://gocolumbialions.com/honors/hall-of-fame/lou-gehrig/1.

31. Iron Horse, 52.