If, like me, you harbour a healthy skepticism about received wisdom, you should have the Urban Legends Reference Page bookmarked on your browser (www.snopes.com). The URLP regularly takes the air out of any number of Net-powered or widely circulated bits of nonsense, exaggeration, fakery, or just plain legend. In the latter category, the ULRP recently turned its attention to one of the most hallowed pieces of baseball lore: that Lou Gehrig started his Iron Man streak with the Yankees when incumbent first baseman Wally Pipp begged off with a headache.
The story, which every baseball fans knows off by heart, is that Pipp's inability (or reluctance) to suit up for a game prompted Yankee manager Miller Huggins to bench him for the day and take a chance on the big college grad Gehrig -- and the rest is history. Pipp's name is still trotted out today whenever a youngster fills in spectacularly for a veteran, raising the possibility that the vet will never see daylight again.
Barbara Mikkelson, the ULRP's owner, is also a baseball fan, and was motivated the other day to check out the legend to see if it was true. Her report, an excellent, well-researched read, concludes that Gehrig actually replaced Pipp as part of a deliberate shake-up of a moribund last-place Yankee team. There was no headache, other than the one Pipp received the following month from a fractured skull, suffered in a batting practice accident and unrelated to Gehrig's insertion into the lineup. I don't know for sure whether Mikkelson's account is accurate, but her batting average on other occasions of myth-busting approaches 1.000.
Any other baseball legends you've always wondered about, or conventional wisdom about the game's history that gave you pause for thought? Baseball's legendary, sepia-toned history isn't nearly as interesting as the story of the efforts -- conscious and otherwise -- of the game's proprieters and spotswriters to make it seem more vaunted and romantic than it actually was.
The story, which every baseball fans knows off by heart, is that Pipp's inability (or reluctance) to suit up for a game prompted Yankee manager Miller Huggins to bench him for the day and take a chance on the big college grad Gehrig -- and the rest is history. Pipp's name is still trotted out today whenever a youngster fills in spectacularly for a veteran, raising the possibility that the vet will never see daylight again.
Barbara Mikkelson, the ULRP's owner, is also a baseball fan, and was motivated the other day to check out the legend to see if it was true. Her report, an excellent, well-researched read, concludes that Gehrig actually replaced Pipp as part of a deliberate shake-up of a moribund last-place Yankee team. There was no headache, other than the one Pipp received the following month from a fractured skull, suffered in a batting practice accident and unrelated to Gehrig's insertion into the lineup. I don't know for sure whether Mikkelson's account is accurate, but her batting average on other occasions of myth-busting approaches 1.000.
Any other baseball legends you've always wondered about, or conventional wisdom about the game's history that gave you pause for thought? Baseball's legendary, sepia-toned history isn't nearly as interesting as the story of the efforts -- conscious and otherwise -- of the game's proprieters and spotswriters to make it seem more vaunted and romantic than it actually was.
