Nominated for eleven Academy Awards THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES is still regarded by many today as the finest baseball movie ever made. It chronicles the life and career of the New York Yankees' legendary first baseman and batting champion, Lou Gehrig, who made history by playing in 2,130 consecutive games over the course of a 14-year major league career.

After battling a debilitating nerve disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) which forced him out of the game early in 1939, Gehrig died in 1941 at the age of 37. However, newsreel footage of his farewell speech, made upon his retirement in 1939, helped immortalize the quiet personality as a hero and all-American role model and subsequently prompted the biopic. 

The film, which features several of Gehrig's real-life teammates playing themselves (among them Bill Dickey, Bob Meusel, Mark Koenig, Bill Stern and Babe Ruth) has become almost as immortal among baseball fans as Gehrig himself.

A Samuel Goldwyn Productions; RKO Radio Production.  Starring Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig, Teresa Wright as Eleanor Gehrig and Walter Bennan as Sam Blake.   Produced by Samuel Goldwyn.  Screenplay by Jo Swerling and Herman J. Mankiewicz, story by Paul Gallico.  Directed by Sam Wood.  Cinematography (black-and-white) by Rudolph Maté.  Edited by Daniel Mandell.  Music by Leigh Harline.  1942.  Black-and-white.  124 minutes.  Screened courtesy of MGM.

Academy Awards: Film Editing (Daniel Mandell)

Academy Award nominations: Lead Actor (Gary Cooper); Lead Actress (Teresa Wright); Art Direction black-and-white (Perry Ferguson); Interior Decoration (Howard Bristol); Cinematography black-and-white (Rudolph Maté); Music - Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (Leigh Harline); Outstanding Motion Picture (Samuel Goldwyn Productions; Sound Recording (Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department, Thomas T. Moulton, Sound Director; Special Effects (Photographic Effects by Jack Cosgrove, Ray Binger; Sound Effects by Thomas T. Moulton; Writing - Original Motion Picture Story (Paul Gallico); Writing - Screenplay (Jo Swerling, Herman J. Mankiewicz).