Henry Louis `` Buster `` Gehrig -LRB- born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig ; June 19 , 1903June 2 , 1941 -RRB- was an American baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball -LRB- MLB -RRB- for the New York Yankees , from 1923 through 1939 .
Lou Gehrig was a baseball player who defended the area near the first base .