It’s been 100 years since The Iron Horse’s rookie season in 1925 and his legacy continues to endure among baseball and hobby fans alike

“Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” 

Alongside Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” and JFK’s “Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You,” Lou Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” speech sits in the pantheon of oratory greatness. But it was the genesis of The Iron Horse’s speech - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) - that took one of baseball’s most beloved superstars from us too early on June 2, 1941.

Eighteen years earlier, on June 15, 1923, Gehrig made his Major League debut with the Yankees, playing in only 23 combined games in 1923 and 1924 behind Bronx Bomber first baseman Wally Pipp. It wasn’t until two seasons later - a century ago this year - on June 1, 1925, that Pipp abdicated his spot in the Yankee line-up after complaining of a headache, enabling Gehrig to step in for what would become the most revered streak in sports history.

After replacing Pipp, Gehrig played in the Yankees’ remaining 123 games that season, hitting .295 with 20 home runs and 68 RBIs. While his rookie campaign was anything but remarkable, what was yet to come certainly was. He won two MVP awards, the 1934 AL Triple Crown, and helped the Yankees win seven World Series titles.

This stunning and rare signed 1933 Goudey Gehrig sold in REA's Spring 2024 Catalog Auction for $180,000.

Much like his legacy among baseball fans, Gehrig’s respect among collectors has never waned. Whether it’s through cards, game-used memorabilia or signed items, he remains one of the most sought after figures in the hobby alongside Ruth, Jordan and Wagner, each of whom was able to play out their career to its full potential.

While the majority of Gehrig’s most recognizable and desirable cards hail from the 1930s, it was his 1925 Exhibits rookie card that started it all. While this oversized card doesn’t come to market often, it does hold the distinguished title as the highest-selling Gehrig item, with the record sale being a PSA EX-NM 6 example that sold in July 2021 for $1.032 million. 

Like most cards during the COVID-19 pandemic, this underappreciated classic saw a drastic rise in prices, with 14 sales of the card between December 2020 and September 2023 exceeding the $100K mark, including a PSA GOOD+ 2.5 example sold for $126,000 in REA’s Spring 2023 Catalog Auction. 

More recently, like the rest of the card market, sales have come back down to earth a bit. One of the most recent sales was an SGC GOOD 2 that sold in REA’s Spring Catalog Auction for $56,400, a result that indicates that this card is back on the rise.

While other classics like his 1933 DeLong Gum continue to wow vintage enthusiasts, it’s a Goudey Gehrig that always seems to grab the spotlight. In REA’s Spring 2024 Catalog Auction, a stunning signed 1933 Goudey #92 Lou Gehrig with a PSA auto grade of MINT 9 sold for $180,000. It’s one of the highest sales of this iconic card - signed or unsigned - in hobby history. Out of more than 2,130 total public sales of this iconic card, only four have sold for a higher price and only one of those was signed. 

Signed Gehrig cards are extraordinarily rare so even the most experienced vintage card collectors were justifiably elated when this was announced.

But it was REA’s Spring 2011 Catalog Auction that saw one of the highest sales of a Gehrig item. In that event, a 1938 Lou Gehrig game-used New York Yankees road jersey sold for $329,000. This was the Iron Horse’s final full season before he voluntarily pulled himself out of the Yankee line-up on May 2 the following year due to uncharacteristic but obvious early-season struggles as a result of ALS.

The 1925 Exhibits Gehrig is regarded as The Iron Horse's true rookie card and was issued the same year he started his historic games played streak.

Even to this day, only a handful of Lou Gehrig game-used jerseys have come to public auction. Yet, this remains one of the most important pieces of Gehrig memorabilia ever sold.

While cards and memorabilia of this beloved player will undoubtedly continue to surface, Lou Gehrig will remain one of the hobby’s most adored figures. And it’s safe to say that although Gehrig himself felt like the luckiest man on earth, it’s the game of baseball and generations of enthusiasts that have been impacted in some way by his legacy that have been the lucky ones.

This story was originally published in the 2025 issue of Hobby Intricacies.