Lou Gehrig didn't have a blog

Nor a memorabilia company capitalizing on his nickname, but he was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame today in Lubbock, Texas:

• "Lou Gehrig was a college baseball star long before he became "The Iron Horse."

His impressive power-hitting displays as "Columbia Lou" more than 80 years ago earned him election to the first veterans class of the College Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday. Joining Gehrig were former Bucknell pitcher Christy Mathewson, Alabama second baseman and coach Joe Sewell, and Holy Cross shortstop and coach Jack Barry. The four will be officially enshrined, along with several other inductees to be elected later this year, in July during a ceremony in Lubbock -- the site of the new Hall of Fame. Dave Winfield, Will Clark and Rod Dedeaux were among the hall's inaugural class last summer. "The task of researching and evaluating the veteran nominees is difficult

• because they competed prior to the collection of data that is so commonplace today," said John Askins, chairman and CEO of the College Baseball Foundation, which established the hall.***

• "These men had no sports information personnel that kept track of their every statistic," he said. "While records are sketchy at best, this outstanding group had a profound impact on collegiate baseball, both nationally and in their own region, and their accomplishments have withstood the test of time."

The veterans classes will be made up of players and coaches who were involved in college baseball before 1947. "The pre-1947 designation is not an arbitrary demarcation," Askins said. "The first All-American team for college baseball was chosen that year by the coaches, so that makes it a logical point to separate modern-day players and veteran candidates."

• Gehrig set several hitting records at Columbia from 1922-24 before going on to a Hall of Fame career with the New York Yankees. He's best known for playing in 2,130 consecutive games -- a mark he held until Cal Ripken Jr. broke it in 1995 -- and still holds the major league record with 23 grand slams.

Mathewson, considered one of baseball's greatest pitchers, was one of the five original members of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. A three-sport athlete at Bucknell --he played football, basketball and baseball -- Mathewson won 373 games in the majors." from AP report in Newsday, 1/10/07

• ***(Meaning they weren't "compilers" looking to pile up stats cheaply to get an award. sm)

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