Babe Dahlgren Day

George Bernard Shaw once said, "Martyrdom is the only way in which a man can become famous without ability." I don't think GBS was familiar with the Chance Gardiner Being There effect.

Some people without ability (or much ability) become famous simply for "being there." Today marks a great example of that.

On this day in 1939, Lou Gehrig took himself out of the line-up to break his string of consecutive games at 2,130. Gehrig was replaced by Babe Dahlgren - who was pretty much the Todd Benzinger of his day but now is famous every May 2nd just for "being there."