Lou Gehrig

Name at birth: Henry Louis Gehrig

Lou Gehrig played in 2130 consecutive games for the New York Yankees from 1925 to 1939, gaining the nickname "The Iron Horse." A slugging first baseman, Gehrig played with teammates like Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio during the Yankee glory years of the 1920s and 1930s. Gehrig won a rare triple crown in 1934, leading the league with 49 homers, 165 RBI and a .363 batting average. He also was chosen the league's most valuable player in 1927 and 1936, but is best-remembered for his 15-season streak of consecutive games, a record which stood until it was broken by Cal Ripken in 1995. Gehrig retired after 8 games of the 1939 season and was diagnosed with the degenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS -- now known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. The Yankees held a recognition day for Gehrig on 4 July 1939, at which he spoke his famous line, "Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth." He died two years later in New York.