He became a Yankee regular—and started his streak of consecutive games played—in 1925, but Lou Gehrig’s true “breakout season” game in 1926. Still only 23 years old, the strapping first baseman was about to become a legend.
Now, one of the finest photos from the first part of Gehrig’s career, a rare pre-game image taken during that 1926 season, is up for auction. Our RMY Auctions Photo of the Day is a Charles Conlon image showing a serious Gehrig posing for the camera. Auction officials call the 6×8 silver gelatin image “quite possibly the best photo of him ever taken.”
The season launched an incredible run for Gehrig. After beginning his 2,130 game streak of games played in ’25, Gehrig started two more amazing streaks. 1926 was the first of 13 straight 100-RBI seasons for the Columbia University product and the first of 12 consecutive seasons in which he batted .300 or better.
He led the league in triples with an astonishing total of 20.
But Gehrig was just getting warmed up when Conlon snapped his photo. In 1927 he would win his first MVP award as part of perhaps the greatest offensive team ever assembled.
The photo is among more than 1,200 featured in RMY’s final Premier Auction of 2015, a group that includes over 500 Charles Conlon images. To register and bid in the auction, visit RMYAuctions.com.
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