Henry Louis Gehrig (/ˈɡɛərɪɡ/] born June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941), also known as Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig, was an American professional baseball first baseman who played seventeen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned for his prowess as a hitter and for his durability, which earned him the nickname “the Iron Horse”. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Gehrig was an All-Star seven consecutive times, a Triple Crown winner once, an American League (AL) Most Valuable Player twice and a member of six World Series champion teams. He had a career .340 batting average, .632 slugging average and a .447 on-base average. He hit 493 home runs and had 1,995 runs batted in (RBIs). He is also one of nineteen players to hit four home runs in a single game. In 1939, Gehrig was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and was the first MLB player to have his uniform number retired by a team when his number 4 was retired by the Yankees.