Wednesday, September 3, 2014

McCarthy's Challenge

A short opinion piece I wrote about the New York Yankees loss of Lou Gehrig from a perspective of 1939.

Opinion piece:

As baseball mourns its loss of Lou Gehrig and prays for him as he fights his diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the Yankees of New York must push forward. The reigning world champions have a lot to make up for in the loss of their Captain. Even in a down year that we now believe is largely in part to the ALS disease he carries, Gehrig still hit .295 with 29 home runs and 32 doubles. What the team lost when Gehrig removed himself from the lineup can’t be measured simply with the numbers that are presented. The loss of a captain, a leader on both sides of the ball and in the clubhouse leaves the Yankees with a large hole to fill.

Joe McCarthy will have to rally the troops and find a way to get extra production out of the likes of Dickey and Rolfe. He’ll have to make sure the superstar Joe Dimaggio is focused on the game of baseball and not his celebrity status. He’ll have to convince Babe Dahlgren that he doesn’t have to replace the whole package of Lou Gehrig at first base, but he will have to take on a big part of that loss. Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing will have to do their part on the defensive side of the ball by keeping runners off the bases. If this team is to repeat as World Champions it will take everyone to fill that void left by the Ironhorse.

The game will go on, and I can think of no better way to honor the man that has claimed to be “the luckiest man on the face of the earth” just a few short days ago, then to honor him by sending him out with a championship on the last roster his name will ever be attached to.

Lucas Jacobson –
Full Sail University

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