'He Wrote This In The Middle Of The Best Baseball Season Ever': Author Alan D. Gaff On 'Lou Gehrig: The Lost Memoir'

(CBS Local)-- Lou Gehrig is one the greatest baseball players in MLB history.

The Iron Horse was a six-time World Series champion, two-time AL MVP, and a Triple Crown winner. Baseball fans will have the chance to relive Gehrig's life and career in the new Simon & Schuster book from author Alan D. Gaff called "Lou Gehrig: The Lost Memoir."

The book features Gehrig's memoir that was originally published in the newspaper while he was a 24-year-old playing on the 1927 New York Yankees with Babe Ruth. Gaff discovered the memoir while he was doing research for another project and thought it was time for the public to experience Gehrig in his own words in 2020.

"I think the most interesting thing is that he [Gehrig] wrote it in the middle of the best baseball year ever," said Gaff in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "He didn't write it as an old man, he was immersed in the middle of everything. He was actually writing the columns while the season was progressing."

Another fascinating part of Gehrig's memoir is his relationship with Ruth. While the two had some ups and downs in their relationship toward the end, The Babe served as a mentor to Gehrig when he first got to the majors with the Pinstripes.

"Lou Gehrig admired The Babe for a long time. Later in life, they had a falling out, but for many years he [Gehrig] idolized The Babe. The funny thing was people tried to make Gehrig into The Babe and there was absolutely no way that was ever going to happen. He was a different hitter and a different individual. When he started, he never drank, smoked, or swore. Later in his career after he was married and been with his teammates for a while, he did all three. Later in life, he loved to have a beer and a cigarette after a game just to relax."

Gehrig tragically passed away at the age of 37 from ALS, which is now is now commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Gaff hopes people will read this book and learn about who Gehrig was both on and off the field.

"One of the things is his close relationship with his mother. As I write about in my essay, when the players would go to spring training, they would look at it as spring break," said Gaff. "Gehrig's mom would come and they would walk along the beach instead of going out drinking and chasing women. That's one thing that definitely comes through stronger in his memoir and what I write."

"Lou Gehrig: The Lost Memoir" is available now wherever books are sold. Watch all of DJ Sixsmith's interviews from "The Sit-Down" series here.