The Yankees and "first base"

The 2016 Yankees have a problem at first base. As NJ.com noted:


Yikes. That makes four legitimate first baseman the Yankees have lost this season, a string of injuries perhaps unlike anything else in the big league for one position.

"You don't see this," Girardi said Thursday (9 June 2016). "People ask about depth—you're usually not four deep, five deep at first base. You might have kids in A-ball, as you go down, but it's hard, but we gotta find a way to overcome it."



Flash back to the Yankees of 1925. The Yankees entered play on June 2, 1925 with a 15–26 win-loss record, good for seventh (of eight) in the American League. Lou Gehrig replaced Wally Pipp. The Yankees went on to finish seventh in the American League.

Wally Pipp is remembered as the guy who preceded Lou Gehrig, who missed one game, and never started at first base for the Yankees again. In fact, Pipp was the first Yankee to lead the American League in home runs (did it twice in fact; 1916, 1917).

And as to a trademark issue, Pipp was a member of what was FIRST called "murderers' row," which preceded the one of the 1927 Yankees.

As noted on wikipedia:


The term was originally coined in 1918 by a sportswriter to describe the pre-Babe Ruth Yankee lineup of 1918. A 1918 newspaper article described it: "New York fans have come to know a section of the Yankees' batting order as 'murderers' row.' It is composed of the first six players in the batting order—Gilhooley, Peckinpaugh, Baker, Pratt, Pipp, and Bodie. This sextet has been hammering the offerings of all comers."



link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murderers%27_Row