Morning briefing
Putting a price on history
After selling at a record price, the warmup jacket worn by Lou Gehrig on the day the New York Yankees legend ended his consecutive-games streak will be residing in Los Angeles.
The 1939 jacket sold for $373,750 at a New York auction tied to this week’s All-Star game, according to Hunt Auctions, which said the price was thought to be a record for a jacket worn by a major leaguer.
Gehrig’s jacket was among nearly 1,000 items auctioned, including those from the personal collections of former Yankees Whitey Ford and the late Thurman Munson.
The jacket’s buyer was Gary Cypres, who plans to make his vast collection of sports memorabilia available to the public this fall by opening the Sports Museum of Los Angeles near Staples Center.
Trivia time
When Gehrig took himself out of New York’s lineup on May 2, 1939, after playing in 2,130 consecutive games, who replaced him at first base?
No-brainer
Cypres, 64, grew up a Yankees fan in the Bronx and said he bought the jacket because “rarely do you have an opportunity to acquire something like that.”
“Let’s face it,” he said in an interview, “Gehrig and the streak is part of baseball lore, not some isolated event. This is part of the American history of baseball.”
Gehrig’s streak, once thought unbreakable, stood as the longest for more than half a century until Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles surpassed it in 1995.
Icy confines
The National Hockey League is going al fresco again.
Wrigley Field in Chicago will play host to a nationally televised game New Year’s Day between the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks.
The matchup will be the 701st meeting between the Red Wings and Blackhawks, and “the NHL is delighted to bring its most historic rivalry to one of the most historic venues in sports,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said.
Bettman also said the league would continue discussions with the Yankees and the city of New York about possibly holding an outdoor game at the new Yankee Stadium opening next year.
Back on track
Former driving champion Paul Tracy will climb into an Indy-style race car at least one more time.
Tracy, 39, plans to drive in the IndyCar Series race in Edmonton, in his native Canada, on July 26.
Tracy found himself without a ride this spring after the former Champ Car World Series racing circuit merged into the IndyCar Series. Tracy won the 2003 Champ Car title (when the series was called CART) and is a four-time winner of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
He noted he’s “been out of action in open-wheel [race] cars,” but said that with his experience, “I don’t think that will be a problem getting back in and getting up to speed.”
Trivia answer
The “Babe.” Well, not that Babe, but Ellsworth “Babe” Dahlgren.
Get a haircut
Speaking of the Babe, yes that Babe, the last living teammate of Babe Ruth isn’t wild about today’s ballplayers.
“I don’t like the appearance of a lot of the players,” 100-year-old Bill Werber told NBC News, adding that he hasn’t attended a game in four or five years.
“The hair’s too long,” said Werber, the oldest living former major league baseball player. “Their beards are too evident.
“They’re a grubby looking bunch of caterwauls.”
No mention of how Werber felt about the Gashouse Gang of the 1930s or Charlie Finley’s Oakland A’s of the 1970s.
And finally
After a youngster was seriously hurt by a foul ball at Wrigley Field last week, the Wall Street Journal brought up a study by Robert M. Gorman and David Weeks for their upcoming book, “Death at the Ballpark.”
They found that about 300 people a year are hospitalized after being hit by foul balls at major and minor league games.
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