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Signed Lou Gehrig glove could sell for $200K

In this photo taken on Monday, June 30, 2014, Howard Henderson, who as a boy in New York played catch with baseball legend Lou Gehrig, holds a signed baseball mitt given to him by Gehrig when he was young, near Henderson's Greenwich, Conn., home. Gehrig, a Yankee first baseman and a friend of Henderson's songwriter father, visited his home and Henderson visited him when he had ALS. The mitt, that was autographed by Gehrig with a hot instrument, will be auctioned in July, expecting to fetch $200,000 to $300,000. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
In this photo taken on Monday, June 30, 2014, Howard Henderson, who as a boy in New York played catch with baseball legend Lou Gehrig, holds a signed baseball mitt given to him by Gehrig when he was young, near Henderson's Greenwich, Conn., home. Gehrig, a Yankee first baseman and a friend of Henderson's songwriter father, visited his home and Henderson visited him when he had ALS. The mitt, that was autographed by Gehrig with a hot instrument, will be auctioned in July, expecting to fetch $200,000 to $300,000. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) In this photo taken on Monday, June 30, 2014, Howard Henderson, who as a boy in New York played catch with baseball legend Lou Gehrig, holds a signed baseball mitt given to him by Gehrig when he was young, near Henderson's Greenwich, Conn., home. Gehrig, a Yankee first baseman and a friend of Henderson's songwriter father, visited his home and Henderson visited him when he had ALS. The mitt, that was autographed by Gehrig with a hot instrument, will be auctioned in July, expecting to fetch $200,000 to $300,000. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

By Associated Press 3 min read

GREENWICH, Conn. (AP) – It was some 80 years ago that Lou Gehrig and the 12-year-old son of a songwriter got bored with talk of music and opted to play catch instead.

The legendary New York Yankees slugger and the boy were fast friends and next time they tossed the ball around the front yard, Gehrig brought Howard Henderson – a fellow lefty – a better glove.

The autographed mitt – “To Howard. I hope you have much luck with this glove as I did. Lou Gehrig.” – will be auctioned off July 15. It is expected to sell for between $200,000 and $300,000.

Henderson, now a retired architect who lives in Greenwich, turns 92 on Friday. That’s also the 75th anniversary of Gehrig’s famous July 4th farewell speech at Yankee Stadium, in which he called himself “the luckiest man on the face of the Earth” despite being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Henderson was used to encountering the famous such as actor Jimmy Durante and actress Ethel Merman. But Gehrig stood out, literally.