1937 Lou Gehrig Game Worn New York Yankees Jersey
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Fewer than ten jerseys from his seventeen years of service are known to exist today. Here is one of the very finest from that endangered species, worn during the last great season of the noblest Yankee of them all. While Gehrig would continue his fabled streak through the 1938 campaign, he'd lead the American League only in appearances during that last full season, his declining numbers now understood to have been a canary in the coal mine of his terminal illness. But in 1937, the stalwart first baseman was still the most feared slugger in the sport, batting .351 with thirty-seven homers and 158 runs batted in, and leading the Junior Circuit in walks (127) and on-base plus slugging (1.116), the latter arguably the most significant metric of offensive effectiveness. For the second consecutive season, and the fifth time in his Hall of Fame career, he'd help bring the World Championship home to the city of his birth.
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The garment is accompanied by a ream of documentary paperwork that will be made available in its entirety to serious bidders who make a request, as it is too substantial to post in full on our website. We'll address the key points here, beginning with the confirmation that this jersey remains in 100% original and unaltered condition as worn by Gehrig, with any deviations from factory standards implemented either by the Yankees or Gehrig himself. The letters reference a repaired tear running vertically from the collar to the right of the number "4" on verso, identified as the result of clumsy removal from a locker room hanging hook. Eyes will also be drawn to the hole at the left armpit, and the light stitching that repairs the same at right. This crude surgery was Gehrig's answer to the misery of wearing heavy flannel during the dog days of summer, and we can see this alteration in period photography of Gehrig, including a great August 29, 1937 shot of him standing between Hank Greenberg and Joe DiMaggio in Detroit while wearing this jersey.Otherwise, we find not a button or seam out of place, the jersey spared the indignity of secondary farm club usage that was the fate of most Big League gamers of the day. "New York" gently arcs across the chest in navy felt, applied with the same stitching pattern that affixes the sacred number "4" on verso. Interior collar is tagged "Spalding [size] 46" beside an artfully chain stitched "L. Gehrig," mellowed by sweat and the passage of decades from red to a lovely salmon shade. We see the same effect with the "37" embroidered at interior rear tail. Game wear, to no surprise, is strong and consistent, exactly what would be expected of a jersey belonging to a man who personified those adjectives to the fullest.
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