美國英語聽力80篇3 Lesson47

Lou Gehrig (A)

 

A North American Major League baseball record was established in 1939.

The man who set it played in 2,130 games without missing one.

In 1995, the record was broken by Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles.

But there is not much chance that the man who set the first record will be forgotten.

Today Shirley Griffith and Steve Ember tell about Lou Gehrig whose record lasted for fifty-six years.

Lou Gehrig was born on June 19, 1903.

He was a huge baby.

He weighed six-and-one-third kilograms.

His parents,Heinrich and Christina Gehrig, had come to America from Germany.

They worked hard.

But they always had trouble earning enough money.

Lou loved to play baseball games on the streets of New York City, where he grew up.

Yet he did not try to play on any sports teams when he entered high school.

He thought of himself as a ball player only for informal games with friends.

Then one of Lou's high-school teachers heard that he could hit the ball very hard.

The teacher ordered Lou to come to one of the school games.

Years later, Lou said, "When I saw so many people and heard all the noise at the game,

I was so scared I went home."

The teacher threatened to fail Lou in school if he did not attend the next game.

So Lou Gehrig went to that game.

He became a valued member of the high school team.

He also played other sports.

The boy who feared noise and people was on his way to becoming a star baseball player.

A representative of a major league team, the New York Giants, came to watch him.

He got Lou a chance to play for the manager of the Giants' team, John McGraw.

McGraw thought Gehrig needed more experience before becoming a major league player.

It was suggested that Lou get that experience on a minor league team in the city of Hartford, Connecticut.

Lou played in Hartford the summer after completing high school.

He earned money to help his parents.

His father was often sick and without a job.

The money Lou earned also helped him attend Columbia University in New York City.

The university had offered him financial help if he would play baseball on the Columbia team.

But, the fact that Gehrig had accepted money for playing professional baseball got him into trouble.

Officials of teams in Columbia's baseball league learned that Lou had played for the professional team in Hartford.

The other teams got him banned from playing for Columbia during his first year at the college.

Gehrig was permitted to play during his second year,though.

He often hit the ball so far that people walking in the streets near the baseball field were in danger of being hit.

Lou's mother earned money as a cook and house cleaner.

But she became very sick.

The family could not make their monthly payments for their home.

The New York Yankees major league baseball organization came to the rescue.

The Yankees offered Lou 3,500 dollars to finish the 1923 baseball season.

That was a great deal of money in those days.

Gehrig happily accepted the offer.

His parents were sad that he was leaving Columbia.

Yet his decision ended their financial problems.

The Yankees recognized that Gehrig was a good hitter.

They wanted him to add to the team's hitting power provided by its star player, Babe Ruth.

But Gehrig had trouble throwing and catching the ball.

So they sent him back to the minor league team in Hartford.

While playing there he improved his fielding.

He also had sixty-nine hits in fifty-nine games.

The next spring Gehrig went to spring training camp with the Yankees.

Again he was sent to Hartford to get more experience.

And again, the Yankees called him back in September.

He hit six hits in twelve times at the bat before that baseball season ended.

Lou Gehrig began to play first base for the Yankees regularly in early June of 1925.

He played well that day and for the two weeks that followed.

Then Gehrig was hit in the head by a throw to second base.

He should have left the game.

But he refused to.