The Unknown Soldier
I started my long odyssey somewhere in France during the First World War. Just where, I alone know. The circumstances of my passing are...
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alandgaff
Aug 3, 20211 min read
12 Things You Probably Don't Know About Me
1. I took four years of Latin classes. 2. My favorite snack is Irish butter on butter crackers. 3. I am now streaming New Tricks on BBC....
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alandgaff
Jul 7, 20212 min read
Every Mile Mattered
During World War Two, my Dad blew up aircraft engines in South Bend, Indiana. No, he was not a German saboteur. He supervised a team of...
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alandgaff
Jun 3, 20211 min read
WHAT I DID ON LOU GEHRIG DAY
1. I watched the New York Yankees defeat the Tampa Bay Rays 4 to 3. Ironically, Lou’s uniform number was 4. 2. Maureen and I donated $100...
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alandgaff
May 29, 20211 min read
Pushing Buttons
Back in the 1970s telephone companies charged for long distance calls. Maureen and I lived in Fort Wayne with our two little boys, Don...
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alandgaff
May 16, 20212 min read
Lou Gehrig in Prison
This post is slightly edited from the Hartford Courant from May 18, 1924. The Aetna Life nine of the Life Insurance Baseball League...
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alandgaff
Apr 24, 20212 min read
Post Office: Then and Now
I recently ordered a book from Thriftbooks.com in Dallas. The package was shipped at 3:20 pm on March 17 and for some super-secret reason...
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alandgaff
Apr 16, 20213 min read
How I Survived the COVID Pandemic
Maureen and I had a head start on survival because of her college senior history paper on the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919. In fact,...
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alandgaff
Apr 1, 20211 min read
LOU GEHRIG WINS WEIRDEST SPORT TILT EVER SEEN
Editor's Note: Modified slightly from its appearance in the New York Daily News on October 4, 1925. In a novel contest combining four...
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alandgaff
Jan 16, 20211 min read
Snail Mail
On January 5 we received a Christmas card that had been postmarked December 2. It was correctly addressed and sent from an address...
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alandgaff
Nov 24, 20201 min read
LOU GEHRIG “FAN” CLUB
Kids in Grand Rapids, Michigan thought they would be able to see two of their heroes combined into one. When the Yankees appeared in an...
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alandgaff
Nov 20, 20202 min read
Lou Gehrig, The Ape Man, Concluded
Lou did have some experience on Vaudeville and radio, along with being interviewed on camera, but had no professional skill as an actor. ...
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alandgaff
Nov 10, 20204 min read
THEY NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO BECOME VETERANS
My prior posts have been of a light-hearted nature, but this one will have a more serious tone. Back in 2016, I wrote the following...
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alandgaff
Oct 28, 20202 min read
LOU GEHRIG, THE APE MAN
Taking a short break from Lou’s fishing trips, I will now tell of his brush with fame as the hero of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ tales of...
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alandgaff
Sep 29, 20201 min read
Lou Gehrig, Angler (Part 4)
Following the Yankees World Series victory in 1936, Lou Gehrig celebrated by sticking to his 3 Rs for the off-season—reading, rest and...
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alandgaff
Aug 24, 20202 min read
Lou Gehrig, Angler (Part 3)
When the Gehrigs returned to New York from their barnstorming tour of Asia on February 13, 1935, Lou gave the necessary press interviews,...
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alandgaff
Aug 8, 20202 min read
Lou Gehrig, Angler (Part 2)
On December 7, 1933 Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth and Fred Fletcher bundled up for a cod-fishing trip off Fire Island. Actually, photos show that...
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alandgaff
Jul 28, 20201 min read
Lou Gehrig, Angler (Part 1)
Lou Gehrig had three loves—his mother Christina (supplanted by wife Eleanor in 1933), baseball and fishing. I will start posting a series...
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alandgaff
Jul 17, 20202 min read
Final Flight
Towards the end of June, 1940 Fred Fletcher, sportswriter for the New York Daily News, stopped by to see the new home of Lou Gehrig. When...
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alandgaff
Jul 11, 20202 min read
After the Speech
What did Lou Gehrig do after ending his baseball career and giving the most famous speech in sports history? He went fishing on the...
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