Babe Dahlgren, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetBabe Dahlgren
American baseball player and coach
Date of Birth: 15-Jun-1912
Place of Birth: San Francisco, California, United States
Date of Death: 04-Sep-1996
Profession: baseball player
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Gemini 
About Babe Dahlgren
- Ellsworth Tenney "Babe" Dahlgren (June 15, 1912 – September 4, 1996) was an American professional baseball infielder.
- He played twelve seasons in Major League Baseball from 1935 to 1946 for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Boston Braves, Chicago Cubs, St.
- Louis Browns, Brooklyn Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, and Pittsburgh Pirates.
- Dahlgren is perhaps best remembered for replacing Lou Gehrig in the lineup on May 2, 1939, which ended Gehrig's 14-year, 2,130 consecutive game streak.
- Dahlgren hit a home run and a double as the Yankees routed Detroit 22-2.
- He went on to hit 15 home runs and drive in 89 runs for the season for the Yankees.Late in the 1940 season, Dahlgren mishandled a throw from Frank Crosetti in a critical game against the Cleveland Indians.
- The Yankees lost that game, and with it any realistic chance at a fifth straight pennant.
- Manager Joe McCarthy believed that Dahlgren's error was what ultimately cost the Yankees the pennant.
- He suggested that Dahlgren was smoking marijuana, and that it dulled his reflexes enough to keep him from handling the throw cleanly.
- After discovering the existence of the rumor in 1943, Dahlgren became the first Major League Baseball player to take a drug test for a non-performance-enhancing drug.
- He did so voluntarily to discredit the rumors circulating at the time.
- The tests were all negative, refuting the charges of marijuana use.
- Dahlgren continued to play at the major league level until 1946, in a playing career which spanned 18 years, including all or part of twelve seasons in the majors.
- Dahlgren spent decades trying to uncover the source of the rumor.In 2007 a hypothesis as to who was the perpetrator of the rumor was brought forth by his grandson, Matt Dahlgren, in his self-published book, Rumor in Town. Also notable during this period, the Browns returned Dahlgren to the Cubs for a contract dispute once it was learned that he had become eligible for the draft in May 1942.
- He was sold to the Dodgers soon after.
- In August 1942 he sought voluntary retirement.
- In early 1943, Dahlgren was notified by the draft board to report for his physical, which occurred in mid-May of that year.
- After passing his physical, Dahlgren was to be inducted into the military in July 1943.
- In July 1943, he played on the National League All-star team.
- In October 1943, Dahlgren was rejected for military service due to a sinus condition.
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