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Wally Pipp Is Dead

Jan. 11, 1965 - Wally Pipp (pictured in 1924), the man Lou Gehrig replaced at first base for the New York Yankees, died in a rest home in Grand Rapids, Mich., today after a long illness. He was 71 years old.

In the mythology of baseball, Chicago-born Wally Pipp is best remembered for his aspirins.

On June 2, 1925, so the story goes, Pipp, the strapping, smooth-fielding, heavy-hitting regular first baseman for the Yankees, developed a headache before a game against the Washington Senators.

As the athlete reached into his locker for a bottle of aspirin, Miller Huggins, his manager, asked how he felt.

“I’ve got a headache, Hug,” Pipp is supposed to have said.

“Suppose you take the day off,” the manager reportedly replied. “I’ll use that big kid Gehrig at first today.”

What happened later actually happened. Lou Gehrig played first base that day and for the next 2,129 days through April 30, 1939, setting a record that still stands.

Pipp, then 32, sat on the Yankee bench for a good part of the year. He was traded to the Reds at the end of the season and played for four more years.

Several years ago, the former ballplayer gently debunked the aspirin story.

The truth, Pipp said, was that Charley Caldwell, a Yankee pitcher who later became Princeton’s football coach, hit him with a fastball during batting practice.

“The ball hit me right here on the temple,” Pipp recalled. “Down I went, and I was much too far gone to bother reaching for any aspirin bottles.”

Other versions of the story have been offered. The New York Sun reported the benching was due to Pipp’s struggles against left-handed pitchers, as southpaw George Mogridge was the scheduled starter for Washington that day. Other sources have suggested Huggins may have benched Pipp and other veterans that week in order to “shake up” the slumping lineup. The Yanks entered play on June 2 on a five-game losing streak.

Whatever truly happened that day, one thing is clear: Wally Pipp, who played with the Yankees for 10 years after breaking in with the Tigers, was a very good ballplayer.

He won the American League home run championship twice. His best year was 1922, when he batted .329. He hit .304 in 1918 and again in 1923.

He is survived by his widow, Nora; three sons, Tom, Ben, and Walter Jr.; and a daughter, Mrs. William Bibler.



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© 2024 by Joe Rubenstein

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