What If LOU GEHRIG Never Played BASEBALL for the New York YANKEES???

Could you imagine Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse, playing for any team other than the Yankees??? Let me tell you a story about how that almost happened! Baseball history is full of weird and wonderful stories, but what about the stories of things that never happened? Sometimes those stories are just as interesting as the ones that did.
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[@brutusonbaseball]

Thanks for tuning in and checking out my story. Be sure to check back for the next story when it comes up! And if you haven't watch yet, use this link to check out my entire History of Baseball Cards video series: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYOxhGx6n7mCfMU

[@PeteMaroun]

Love this series.. looking forward to the rest!

[@brutusonbaseball]

That's great, glad you enjoyed it! Looking forward to sharing more as well 😀

[@nicksorbello6224]

Very interesting stuff! Thanks

[@brutusonbaseball]

Thanks for checking it out!

[@barney8776]

That was a great story, can't wait for the next one. I always enjoy your content.

[@brutusonbaseball]

Thank you, very kind of you! Looking forward to releasing the next one as well.

[@big8dog887]

My impression of Lou Gehrig is that he was highly coachable. This might have worked to his detriment if he had signed with the Giants. John McGraw was hopelessly old-school, he HATED Babe Ruth. My guess is that if you gave him Lou Gehrig, McGraw might have tried to have him emphasize contact more than power, and turned him into Bill Terry. Bill Terry was a great player, a HOFer in his own right, but this is like turning Michael Jordan into Clyde Drexler. Speaking of Bill Terry, if the Giants have Gehrig, Terry doesn't go there. So what happens to him? Terry was very famously and unabashedly in it for the money. He had quit playing minor league baseball for a well-paying job with Standard Oil, he was playing for a semipro company team, and would only quit his "real" job if he were offered more money, the "dream" of playing in the bigs wasn't enough. So, if the Giants don't sign him, who has the money and the scouting network to make it happen? The Yankees. I envision a very similar career arc for Terry as a Yankee, he played several years behind George Kelly as a Giant before catching his break, as a Yankee, just substitute Wally Pipp for Kelly. By WAR, the difference between Gehrig and Terry is about 3 wins per year. The Yankees weren't in a lot of close races, so not much changes, although maybe they lose out to the Philadelphia Athletics in 1928, which starts that dynasty a year earlier, making them a little more legendary, and possibly giving Ty Cobb a ring before his retirement. For the Giants, it would depend on which Gehrig we get, if he's close to our timeline, the Giants might pull off 4 or 5 more pennants, they were on the short end of a lot of close races. In the "Gehrig becomes an improved Bill Terry" scenario, I see maybe 2 or 3 pennants. But one of those is a big one. In 1934, Bill Terry was the player-manager of the Giants, and someone asked him about the Brooklyn Dodgers. Terry dismissively replied "Is Brooklyn still in the league?" This bit him in a big way at the end of the season, as the Giants were in a down-to-wire race with the St. Louis Cardinals, and it was the Dodgers that knocked the Giants out of the race. Gehrig for Terry means a better player with no bulletin board quote, which might have been the difference. This in turn means that the "Gashouse Gang" doesn't become legendary, and the future Giants-Dodgers rivalry may not be as intense. While the number of championships the Yankees win doesn't change a lot (again assuming the Yankees come up with a Bill Terry quality player to replace Gehrig), I do think Yankee culture does change. While Ruth was the Yankees first superstar, it was Gehrig who was the prototype of what the organization would come to sell as the embodiment of a "True Yankee", stoic, highly professional, and really good.

[@brutusonbaseball]

I always look forward to reading your well-thought-out responses! I'll admit when I made this I just kinda figured "oh whatever, I'm sure the Giants would have found an outfield position for Bill Terry or something", but in reality I'm sure you're right. With Gehrig, the Giants would have been set and not likely after a guy like Terry. I do agree with you that Gehrig would have been an upgrade, but maybe not a HUGE one. Still could have ended up with a couple more pennants though in all those close races as you pointed out. I love the idea though of what impact Gehrig had on the Yankee culture. Ruth built the team, but his persona is not what caught on and permeated through the decades. That was Gehrig, and especially his stoicism and selflessness in his final days on and off the field. He set the tone for what would be expected out of a Yankee player that still applies today, even if it has faded some.

[@big8dog887]

​@@brutusonbaseball If moving Terry to the outfield were a viable option, it would have been done in real life. When Terry came up, the Giants had an established first baseman, George "High Pockets" Kelly, a member of the "Frankie Frisch's Friends" wing of the Hall of Fame, and rather than play the outfield, Terry rode the pine for his first couple of seasons. That said, it's not impossible to imagine the Giants signing both Terry and Gehrig and having them compete for the job. Who wins? Hard to say, we don't have analytics, we only have the eye test and McGraw's biases. Both can hit, Gehrig has more power, but that doesn't seem to impress McGraw, and unless you're a strict pull-hitter, may not do you a lot of good at the Polo Grounds. Terry probably appears to be the better defensive player, and has had more minor league seasoning. Gehrig, though, is a lot easier to get along with, McGraw and Terry constantly feuded. But, in a perverse way, McGraw may have enjoyed that, Terry was McGraw's hand-picked successor to manage the team. Anyway, one guy stays, the other gets traded. I'm going to trade Gehrig, just because it's a more fun to imagine scenario. One of the most popular trade partners the Giants had at the time was the Philadelphia Phillies. Imagine a talent like Gehrig playing at Baker Bowl. A .400 batting average, 60 HR and, yes, even 200 RBI might be attainable goals in that notorious bandbox. The only unattainable goal would be a pennant, the Phillies pitchers were that spooked by their surroundings, they were the Colorado Rockies of the era. So where does this leave the Yankees? In my first scenario, I gave them Terry, in this one, Wally Pipp finishes his career there. Using WAR and substituting Pipp for Gehrig, the Yankees could lose both the 1926 and 1928 pennants. They still win in 1927, but no longer carry the mystique of "The 1927 Yankees." 1928 was Pipp's final year, not sure how the Yankees fill in the spot in 1929, but 1930 was the rookie year of a kid who grew up in the Bronx, and didn't sign with the Yankees precisely because Gehrig was in the way. Remove Gehrig and I'm convinced that he would have donned the pinstripes. I'm going to leave it there because there's a very real chance you know who I'm talking about and are planning to feature him in this series. If not, I'll post a sequel comment sometime in the future.

[@brutusonbaseball]

@big8dog887 great evaluation...Gehrig with the Phils would have been such a sad fate

[@mikethesportshistorycollec1947]

Great video. Gehrig as a Giant would have really put them over the top and brought in more championships in my opinion.

[@brutusonbaseball]

I'm sure it would have made a major impact. Not sure Ruth would have been able to carry the team without Gehrig, and I'm sure the Giants would have won a whole lot more.

[@JonSchell-p3u]

Love this content make more plzzzzz ❤❤❤❤😂😂😂😂😊😊😊😊

[@brutusonbaseball]

Thank you, will do!

[@dianeolson-salmon8907]

I don't think Gehrig would have done quite as well under McGraw as a coach. McGraw was a cut to the chase kind of guy. The aliases definitely didn't have much creativity. I love the shorter format, and I think that'll be a positive move.

[@brutusonbaseball]

You very well may be right! Thanks for the feedback

[@Cmertlik]

Can't wait for the Tony Gwynn video

[@brutusonbaseball]

Lots of interesting stories out there...stay tuned!

[@big8dog887]

Longtime viewers know Brutus' favorite team and can guess which Atlanta Braves pitcher will be featured because they traded him away.

[@brutusonbaseball]

@big8dog887 now don't start giving too much away big dog!

[@richardbianco9674]

Lol well in fairness, babe can be associated with the red Sox and his trade to the Yankees is the stuff of myths and legends lol

[@brutusonbaseball]

Quite true, but every baseball fan knows that Babe started out with the Red Sox. I'm trying to look for stories that perhaps most fans don't know about, especially where a single decision or turn of events ended up making all the difference.

[@richardbianco9674]

@brutusonbaseball that's what I figured. Good start, I actually didn't know the back story for Lou.

[@brutusonbaseball]

Thanks, glad to hear you learned something new! That's how I got this whole idea...there was one player I read a story about recently and I had NO idea that he had ever been associated with a different team. Crazy to think about.