At the beginning of the twentieth century, baseball was quite different from today. Games usually began in the evening that way people could get a full days work in. Uniforms were flannel and worn without a number or a name. Foul balls were thrown back onto the field by fans. At the age of seven, Gehrig witnessed the first City Series in which the Highlanders-a team that would later become the Yankees- and the Giants played each other, the Manhattan Bridge was completed, and the seventh annual World Series was being played between the Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago Cubs. Caught up in the hype, Gehrig wished to be a professional baseball player yet he was slow on the bases and slow to learn. He would later say that, “Some ballplayers have natural born ability,” “I wasn’t one of them.”Above is a photo of Lou after his grammar school graduation from P.S. 132. At the time, most families expected their children to graduate and begin working full time but Lou’s mother encouraged him to go to high school.