Gehrig's streak did not begin with Wally Pipp's "headache"?!

[penguin4]

Apparently, the infamous batting-practice beaning that forced Pipp to sit out several games didn't occur until a month after the streak began.
Yeah, I can't believe it either. Is EVERYTHING going topsy-turvy these days???

http://www.snopes.com/sports/baseball/pipp.asp

[Kiwiwriter]

Yes, I heard that, too, and I have to check it out. I do know that the streak actually began when he pinch-hit for Pee Wee Wanninger the day before the famous "headache."

[duke55dodgers]

Originally posted by penguin4
Apparently, the infamous batting-practice beaning that forced Pipp to sit out several games didn't occur until a month after the streak began.
Yeah, I can't believe it either. Is EVERYTHING going topsy-turvy these days???

http://www.snopes.com/sports/baseball/pipp.asp

I didn't know that either. Very interesting! Thanks for sharing

[sgagarin]

I skimmed through the snoops article so I might have missed it, but if Pipp suffered from a fractured skull, where did the famous quote, "I took the two most expensive aspirin in the world" come from and why was it attributed to Pipp and him getting beaned? It is clear that if you had a fractured skull you would need a lot more than aspirin and would probably be taken to the hospital. -Sasha

[penguin4]

I believe, if I remember from the article (I didn't have time to re-read it), the quote is a reference to the story Pipp started telling in retrospect, many years later. Time has a way of compressing or expanding events so they seem to make sense, and Pipp erroneously remembered Gehrig's first day of the streak being the day he was beaned in batting practice -- which were really a month apart. The "aspirin" comment was Pipp's attempt at humour and/or perhaps his way of looking at the outcome; medicine wasn't as sophisticated back then, and batters got wonked in the head all the time (and sometimes even played with said injuries) -- perhaps they gave him aspirin to alleviate the pain regardless, even with the extent of his injuries. Or perhaps it's one of the most famous things never said -- right up there with Bogart's "Play it again, Sam."

Now that I think about it, they even allude to the beaning in Pride of the Yankees -- the actor playing Pipp says something like, "I've been seeing double since I was beaned yesterday" and the actor playing Huggins tells him to take a rest.