This week's post deals with with his relationship with Miller Huggins, Gerhig's first Yankee manager.
Huggins exerted enourmous energy trying to keep his players focused on their jobs. The more he pushed, the heavier the bags under his eyes seemed to grow. and the grayer his skin seemed to turn. The newspapers referred to him as an "unhappy little man." He seemed to exist in a constant state of worry -- over his team, over the stock market, over his investments in real estate, over his health, over [Babe] Ruth skipping curfew. Doctors told him the strain would kill him someday, but Huggins couldn't help it. It was all he knew how to do. That and win baseball games.
Gehrig, at least, gave the manager little reason to lose sleep. He arrived at the ballpark on time, didn't drink, played hard, never missed curfew, smoked mostly in private, and spent his money cautiously. Huggins began offering Gehrig tips on the stock market and on Florida real estate investments. The market was booming, and Huggins urged all his young players to start planning for retirement. Gehrig never gave details about his investments, but he suggested on several occasions that he had followed his manager's advice.
Once, Huggins heard a rumor that Gehrig had blown almost a full year's salary on a new car. The more the manager thought about it, the angrier he got. Perhaps Huggins couldn't stand to think that Gehrig was falling under the sway of Ruth. In any case, Gehrig told an interviewer that when he walked into the clubhouse one day, Huggins sprang toward him.
"You big, stupid clown," the manager said.
Huggins jumped up and threw a punch at his first baseman's chin. It landed, but without harm.
Gehrig stood and stared.
"Here I've been trying to teach you some sense and you go out and spend a year's salary on an automobile."
Gehrig told the manager that he had been misinformed. He had in fact bought a car, but it was a $700 Peerless Packard -- used.
"Well, let that punch be a lesson to you," the manager said.
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