Lou Gehrig is undoubtedly one of the greatest baseball players ever. Part of the New York Yankees "Murderer's Row," Gehrig tallied dozens of records, including most consecutive games played(Broken by Cal Ripken Jr.) and most grand slams in a career, with 23(Still unbroken).
Gehrig, of course, also gave his name to a disease, ALS, and his "Luckiest Man in the World" speech is one of the great moments in American history.
But, all of this could have been for naught, if not for a guy named Wally Pipp.
Pipp was a first baseman for the Yankees, and by all accounts, a pretty good player. However, on June 2, 1925, Pipp was removed from the lineup by Yankees manager Miller Huggins(According to apocryphal stories, it was due to a headache; In reality, Huggins had decided to remove Pipp to shake up his lineup).
So, if Wally Pipp isn't removed, does Lou Gehrig still become Lou Gehrig? Is his consecutive start streak still there? Are the Yankees as good?