# The Pride of the Yankees
**The Pride of the Yankees** is a 1942 American biographical drama directed by Sam Wood and produced by [Samuel Goldwyn](https://www.edgepedia.org/samuel-goldwyn) that dramatizes the life of Baseball Hall of Fame first baseman [Lou Gehrig](https://www.edgepedia.org/lou-gehrig), from his boyhood in New York City through his Columbia University years, his rise with the [New York Yankees](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-yankees), and his diagnosis with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the disease now commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.[1](https://www.miramax.com/movie/the-pride-of-the-yankees/) Gary Cooper stars as Gehrig, with Teresa Wright as his wife Eleanor and Babe Ruth appearing as himself.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pride_of_the_yankees) Released about a year after Gehrig's death in June 1941, the film closes with a recreation of his farewell speech at Yankee Stadium and its famous line, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."[3](https://silver.afi.com/movies/detail/0100000495/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | New York opening 14 July 1942; Los Angeles opening 18 August 1942; wide release 5 March 1943[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27411-THE-PRIDE-OF-THE-YANKEES) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pride_of_the_yankees) |
| Director / producer | Sam Wood; Samuel Goldwyn[1](https://www.miramax.com/movie/the-pride-of-the-yankees/) |
| Writers | Jo Swerling and Herman J. Mankiewicz, from a story by Paul Gallico; Damon Runyon also credited[1](https://www.miramax.com/movie/the-pride-of-the-yankees/) • [5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0035211/credits/) |
| Cast | Gary Cooper (Lou Gehrig), Teresa Wright (Eleanor Gehrig), Walter Brennan (Sam Blake), Dan Duryea (Hank Hanneman), Babe Ruth as himself[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pride_of_the_yankees) |
| Format | Black and white, 128 minutes, Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording[3](https://silver.afi.com/movies/detail/0100000495/) • [4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27411-THE-PRIDE-OF-THE-YANKEES) |
| Recognition | 11 Academy Award nominations with one win reported by IMDb; #22 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers; National Film Registry, 2024[6](https://www.mlb.com/news/glen-powell-to-play-lou-gehrig-in-movie) • [7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035211) • [3](https://silver.afi.com/movies/detail/0100000495/) • [8](https://apnews.com/article/f761e063d521a67e15ff2c17569deabf) |
| Critical standing | 94% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 31 reviews[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pride_of_the_yankees) |
## Spoilers
### Story
The film follows Henry "Lou" Gehrig, the son of German immigrants, whose mother, a cook at Columbia University, wants him to become an engineer while he excels at sports.[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27411-THE-PRIDE-OF-THE-YANKEES) Sportswriter Sam Blake ([Walter Brennan](https://www.edgepedia.org/walter-brennan)) spots Lou's hitting and tips off the Yankees; then, facing an operation his mother needs that the family has no money for, Lou joins the team to cover the cost and climbs from the minors to a spot alongside [Babe Ruth](https://www.edgepedia.org/babe-ruth) under manager [Miller Huggins](https://www.edgepedia.org/miller-huggins).[12](https://film.one/film/the-pride-of-the-yankees) He courts and marries Eleanor Twitchell, becomes "The Iron Man of Baseball" for his record of consecutive games played, and is then sidelined by a crippling illness at the height of his success.[1](https://www.miramax.com/movie/the-pride-of-the-yankees/) • [13](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/87109)
The closing scene recreates Gehrig's farewell speech at [Yankee Stadium](https://www.edgepedia.org/yankee-stadium), delivered after his diagnosis with ALS.[3](https://silver.afi.com/movies/detail/0100000495/) A Society for American Baseball Research analysis notes that Cooper re-creates the speech "with some refinements here and there," an example of the dramatic license baseball biopics routinely take.[14](https://sabr.org/journal/article/fact-vs-fiction-an-analysis-of-baseball-in-films/) The film also dramatizes a real event from the 1928 [World Series](https://www.edgepedia.org/world-series), in which Gehrig hit two home runs "for" a hospitalized boy while the family listened on the radio.[13](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/87109)
## Production
The project moved quickly after Gehrig's death. According to a historical account by William C. Kashatus, producer Samuel Goldwyn was shown a newsreel of Gehrig's farewell speech, was moved by it, and concluded that a film had potential in the wartime climate; his associate then paid Eleanor Gehrig $30,000 for the rights to the story and hired the writer [Paul Gallico](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-gallico) to work on the screenplay. The title came from Gallico's book.[9](https://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/37907/1/William%20C.%20Kashatus.pdf) The American Film Institute catalog records working titles that included *The Lou Gehrig Story*, *The Great American Hero*, *The Life of Lou Gehrig*, and *Lou Gehrig, An American Hero*.[10](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27411-the-prideoftheyankees)
Production ran from 11 February to late April 1942, and the film was copyrighted by Samuel Goldwyn on 15 July 1942.[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27411-THE-PRIDE-OF-THE-YANKEES) Filming took place in part at [Wrigley Field](https://www.edgepedia.org/wrigley-field) in Los Angeles, the minor-league park standing in for Yankee Stadium.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035211) The onscreen credits carry a title card expressing appreciation for the assistance of Mrs. Lou Gehrig, and Eleanor Gehrig corresponded with Goldwyn during production about how her husband's speech should be rendered.[10](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27411-the-prideoftheyankees) • [11](https://baseballhall.org/discover/new-book-details-making-of-pride-of-the-yankees)
Casting Gehrig was difficult, and Cooper, then in his forties, was an unusual physical match for a ballplayer who had signed with the Yankees at 19.[9](https://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/37907/1/William%20C.%20Kashatus.pdf) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pride_of_the_yankees) A detail repeated in IMDb's trivia for the film holds that Cooper had never played baseball, even as a youth, and had never seen a game in person before he was hired.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035211) Authenticity came from the roster instead: Gehrig's teammates Babe Ruth, Bob Meusel, Mark Koenig, and Bill Dickey appear as themselves.[3](https://silver.afi.com/movies/detail/0100000495/)
## Reception and legacy
Contemporary reviews were respectful but mixed. Bosley Crowther of *The New York Times* called it a simple, tender biography that memorializes Gehrig as a fine and humble man rather than a baseball picture with dramatic punch; David Lardner in *The New Yorker* found the film overlong and its glorification of Gehrig unwise, while later critics have singled out Cooper's performance as the film's anchor.[12](https://film.one/film/the-pride-of-the-yankees) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 94% Tomatometer from 31 reviews and an 89% audience score.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pride_of_the_yankees)
The awards record is reported unevenly across sources: MLB.com states the film earned 11 Oscar nominations,[6](https://www.mlb.com/news/glen-powell-to-play-lou-gehrig-in-movie) while IMDb lists 10 nominations with 1 win.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035211)
**Enduring standing.** The American Film Institute ranks the film #22 on its 100 Years...100 Cheers list and its farewell line #38 on 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes.[3](https://silver.afi.com/movies/detail/0100000495/) In 2024 the Library of Congress added it to the [National Film Registry](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-film-registry), describing it as the model for the modern sports tear-jerker; the registry selection brought the registry to 900 films.[8](https://apnews.com/article/f761e063d521a67e15ff2c17569deabf) A 2026 MLB.com report on a new Gehrig film, to star [Glen Powell](https://www.edgepedia.org/glen-powell) and be directed by [Richard Linklater](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-linklater), framed the project against Cooper's Oscar-nominated portrayal 84 years earlier.[6](https://www.mlb.com/news/glen-powell-to-play-lou-gehrig-in-movie) The film remains widely available, streaming on subscription and free ad-supported services and on home video.[15](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-pride-of-the-yankees)
## References
1. [The Pride Of The Yankees, Miramax official site](https://www.miramax.com/movie/the-pride-of-the-yankees/)
2. [The Pride of the Yankees, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pride_of_the_yankees)
3. [The Pride of the Yankees, AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center](https://silver.afi.com/movies/detail/0100000495/)
4. [The Pride of the Yankees, AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27411-THE-PRIDE-OF-THE-YANKEES)
5. [The Pride of the Yankees credits, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0035211/credits/)
6. [One of Hollywood's biggest stars signs on to portray Gehrig, MLB.com](https://www.mlb.com/news/glen-powell-to-play-lou-gehrig-in-movie)
7. [The Pride of the Yankees (1942), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035211)
8. ['Dirty Dancing,' 'Beverly Hills Cop,' 'Up in Smoke' among movies entering the National Film Registry, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/f761e063d521a67e15ff2c17569deabf)
9. [William C. Kashatus, Making of a Legend](https://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/37907/1/William%20C.%20Kashatus.pdf)
10. [The Pride of the Yankees (1943), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27411-the-prideoftheyankees)
11. [New book details making of 'Pride of the Yankees', Baseball Hall of Fame](https://baseballhall.org/discover/new-book-details-making-of-pride-of-the-yankees)
12. [The Pride of the Yankees (1942) review, Fi1m](https://film.one/film/the-pride-of-the-yankees)
13. [Watch The Pride of the Yankees, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/87109)
14. [Fact vs. Fiction: An Analysis of Baseball in Films, Society for American Baseball Research](https://sabr.org/journal/article/fact-vs-fiction-an-analysis-of-baseball-in-films/)
15. [The Pride of the Yankees streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-pride-of-the-yankees)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Documentary and biographical films › Individual biographical and docudrama films › Sports figures*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license