The untold story behind the first great sports film... The Pride of the Yankees: Lou Gehrig, Gary Cooper, and the Making of a Classic
On July 4, 1939, baseball great Lou Gehrig stood in Yankee Stadium and gave a speech that contained the phrase that would become legendary: "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."
He died two years later and his fiery widow, Eleanor, wanted nothing more than to keep his memory alive. With her forceful will, she and the irascible producer Samuel Goldwyn quickly agreed to make a film based on Gehrig's life, "The Pride of the Yankees." Goldwyn didn't understand -- or care about -- baseball. For him this film was the emotional story of a quiet, modest hero who married a spirited woman who was the love of his life, and, after a storied career, gave a short speech that transformed his legacy. With the world at war and soldiers dying on foreign soil, it was the kind of movie America needed.
Using original scripts, letters, memos, and other rare documents, Richard Sandomir tells the behind-the-scenes story of how a classic was born. The search to find the actor to play Gehrig; the stunning revelations Eleanor made to the scriptwriter Paul Gallico about her life with Lou; the intensive training Gary Cooper underwent to learn how to catch, throw, and hit a baseball for the first time.
On a warm summer evening, Richard Sandomir led our intimate Clubhouse conversation and brought "The Pride of the Yankees" to life. Listen in...
"The Eighth Wonder of the World" with Robert Trumpbour and Kenneth Womack
"The Last Innocents" with Michael Leahy
"The Baseball Whisperer" with Michael Tackett
"Down On The Korner" with Mark Rosenman
"Terror in the City of Champions" with Tom Stanton
"Jackie Robinson In Quotes" with Danny Peary
"Nine Innings To Success" with Hall of Famer Jim Palmer
"Cuba's Baseball Defectors" with author Peter Bjarkman
"The Only Rule Is It Has To Work" with Ben Lindbergh
"The Last Chicago Cubs Dynasty" with Hal Bock
"God Almighty Hisself: The Life and Legacy of Dick Allen" with author Mitchell Nathanson
"Kings of Queens: Life Beyond Baseball with the '86 Mets" with author Erik Sherman
"Greatness in the Shadows" with author Douglas Branson
"Amazin' Again" with author Greg Prince
"The Cardinals Way" with Howard Megdal
"Black Baseball, Black Business" with Roberta Newman and Joel Nathan Rosen
"The Golden Era of Major League Baseball" with Bryan Soderholm-Difatte
"Fun City: John Lindsay, Joe Namath, and How Sports Saved New York in the 1960s" with Sean Deveney
"Baseball Immortal: Derek Jeter" with Danny Peary
"A Century in the Bleachers" with Arnold Hano and filmmaker Jon Leonoudakis
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Halos in the infield ( an angels baseball podcast )
The 3 Old Reds Fans Podcast
Have A Seat with Jason Benetti and Dan Dickerson
Talkin’ Baseball (MLB Podcast)
Baseball Today