I ran across this unusual 1923 Lou Gehrig APBA card on Facebook and it really intrigued me. It’s unusual in the sense that this card represents a season before his ‘Iron Man’ days and his playing time is extremely limited.
That being said, it still looks a lot like a Lou Gehrig aka a Monster Card.
1923 Lou Gehrig
11 for 26 (.423)
8 rbis, 6 runs
4 doubles, 1 triple, 1 HR
Gehrig was a rookie for the New York Yankees in 1923 playing under the wings of fine-hitting first baseman Wally Pipp. He played in 13 games mostly in September. He did the most he could with the little time he was given. In 26 at-bats, he batted .423 with six extra base hits including one triple and one home run.
Twenty year old Gehrig drove in 8 runs and scored six himself.
| Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1923 Totals | 13 | 4 | 29 | 26 | 6 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 5 | .423 | .464 | .769 |
I’ve tried to get away from crazy, fluke Monster Cards for this column but I this one, I couldn’t let slide. It was too interesting to get a glimpse into Gehrig’s career before it took off.
Lookin’ at Lou
Like I mentioned, his card looks a lot like some of his other Monster Cards (1927, 1936) with some exceptions. Power at 55 and a 25-7, wow! One glaring difference is the 11-2 but that is what a small sample size will do to an APBA card. With Gehrig’s one triple in 29 plate appearances, a single column 2 makes a lot of sense.
I did a “Quick & Dirty” method of determining what this card will hit. I think this card might hit a little lower than .423 but it is possible APBA did this intentionally because of Gehrig’s lack of playing time.
One thing that struck me is that Gehrig’s 1923 card has three double play-inducing 24s. One thing that is puzzling me is how APBA calculates 24s for seasons before 1939. I have not found any stat sources that provide GIDP numbers for early years.
Overlooked details
- 1923 Gehrig has a 63-13 but does have a 24-31.
- Gehrig was rated as a 1B-3 for this card. For most of his later APBA cards, he was rated 1B-4.
Interestingly, Gehrig had another “Monster” year in a very limited role in 1924. He went 6 for 12 with one double and five rbis.
Retrosheet shows GIDP numbers for those early seasons.
Thank you, Chris! I was not aware.
Tom