Of all the monumental events in New York Yankees history, none is more monumental than Lou Gehrig‘s consecutive games streak. And it was on Aug. 17, 1933, that the Iron Horse initially set the record.
Any baseball fan can tell you that, but true Yankee fans know the rest of the story. That’s because what is often overlooked is that before Gehrig, the record was held by Everett Scott, who also had played for the Yankees.
Gehrig broke Scott’s record on Aug. 17 with game number 1,308. Of course, Gehrig would go on to play in 2,130 straight games, a record that stood for more than 50 years until the Orioles’ Cal Ripken eclipsed it.