Today in 1923 Lou Gehrig hits his very first MLB home run. He would finish his career just shy of 500 with 493.

We all know about his Iron Man streak, 6 World Series titles, his battle with ALS and “the luckiest man on the face of the earth” speech. Something I didn’t know until today was that he was the first player in MLB history to have his number retired by his team.

Gehrig’s #4 was retired by the Yankees in 1939. Since then over 150 players across the league have had their number retired including 23 by the Yankees alone. The most recent for the Yankees is CC Sabathia who’s #52 was retired just two days ago.

This is Gehrig’s 1st Time magazine cover appearance from 1936 graded at CGC 6.0. This copy is a pop 7 with only 6 copies graded higher.