The Most Impressive Season

Dying Gehrig Had His Most Impressive Season

By Paul Semendinger

February 2025

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NOTE - This article was written for and published by the IWBAA in their daily newsletter Here's The Pitch on February 8, 2025

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A few years ago, I read a fantastic book, Dan Joseph's Last Ride of the Iron Horse: How Lou Gehrig Fought ALS To Play One Final Championship Season. This book deals with Lou Gehrig's 1938 season, the final full season of his career.

I have been thinking a lot about that season lately. The more I consider it, the more I have come to the conclusion that no Major League Baseball player ever had a more impressive season.

Lou Gehrig's 1938 season was remarkable beyond words, but before looking at that season, and why I think it is so impressive, some context is needed.

The season before, 1937, was a great one for Gehrig. He, of course, played in every game (157 in all) and batted .351/37/158. He had 200 hits. He scored 138 runs. Gehrig's OPS was 1.116 and his OPS+ was 176.

The season after, 1939, was Gehrig's last. In that season, ALS, the disease that would take his life in 1941, had ravaged Gehrig's body so much that he could no longer play the game. In 1939, Gehrig played in only 8 games. He went 4-for-28 (.143) with no home runs before taking himself out of the lineup.

In between those seasons, 1938, a season in which ALS started to impact his body and ability to play baseball, Lou Gehrig batted .295/29/114. Those are nice numbers, but they are a far cry from the production most expected from Gehrig. Of course, no one, not even Gehrig, knew he had ALS at that point.

In that 1938 season, as his body started to break down, Gehrig's OPS+ was still 132. Still, even that number doesn't tell the full story.

As I thought about Lou Gehrig's 1938 season, I wondered how his season totals compared with the rest of the American League’s. What I found was remarkable.

As he began his fight against ALS, in 1938, Lou Gehrig placed among the American League leaders in the following categories:

• Games Played - 157 (ranked 1st)

• Plate Appearances - 689 (ranked 6th)

• Runs Scored - 115 (ranked 10th)

• Home Runs - 29 (ranked 7th)

• Runs Batted In - 114 (ranked 7th)

• Walks - 107 (ranked 5th)

• Times on Base - 282 (ranked 5th)

• Extra Base Hits - 67 (ranked 7th)

• Total Bases - 301 (ranked 6th)

• Runs Created - 123 (ranked 6th)

• Offensive WAR - 4.8 (ranked 10th)

  
  

The more I think about those numbers, that production, and what he must have been going through physically, the more I am amazed with what Gehrig was able to accomplish.

As he started to fight ALS, Lou Gehrig was still one of the best hitters in the league.

When this is put into context, Lou Gehrig's 1938 season is, simply, astonishing. It is the most impressive season any player ever had.

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Dr. Paul Semendinger recently completed the Dopey Challenge in Disney World, 48.6 miles of races over four days including the WDW Marathon. Now Paul is gearing up for the spring and his own baseball season where he hopes to pitch his team to another championship. Paul is the author of The Least Among Them, 365.2: A Runner's Journey, Impossible Is An Illusion, Scattering the Ashes, and more.