The Pride of the Yankees

Lou Gehrig, Gary Cooper, and the Making of a Classic
Timed to the 75th anniversary of the beloved classic Pride of the Yankees, New York Times columnist Richard Sandomir takes a look back at the making of a seminal sports film featuring one of Hollywood’s greatest leading men, Gary Cooper in this “riveting.meticulously researched and gracefully written book” (Gay Talese).

“I CONSIDER MYSELF THE LUCKIEST MAN ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH.”

On July 4, 1939, baseball great Lou Gehrig delivered what has been called “baseball’s Gettysburg Address” at Yankee Stadium and gave a speech that included the phrase that would become legendary. He died two years later and his fiery widow, Eleanor, wanted nothing more than to keep his memory alive. With her forceful will, she and the irascible producer Samuel Goldwyn quickly agreed to make a film based on Gehrig’s life, The Pride of the Yankees. Goldwyn didn’t underst