Walter Clement Pipp was born in Chicago, and maybe on this July 29 someone will celebrate the 90th anniversary of his Major League debut. OK, probably not. But he did play 10 full seasons for the Yankees and 15 Major League seasons in all, finishing just shy of 2,000 hits and 1,000 RBIs, with three trips to the Fall Classic -- not exactly someone who was cheated out of a career.

Gehrig, who didn't have that many more at-bats than Pipp (8,001 to 6,914), certainly would be giving his predecessor more credit than history has given him. Consider that 1924 Spring Training. Rookies like Gehrig were often crowded out of Yankee batting practice by spiteful veterans, and Gehrig recalled times when his favorite bat was sawed in four parts, "the kind of meanness that was hard to understand." Ray Robinson's 1990 book, "Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig In His Time", paints the ironic picture of Pipp as a compassionate man who rescued Gehrig when he needed help most.

"Certainly Pipp did not believe his usefulness to the Yankees had come to an end," Robinson wrote. "But he began to appreciate that Lou might have more of a future with New York than he did. . . . Pipp worked hard with Lou that spring." Pipp showed Gehrig some of the tricks at first base -- charging in for bunts, playing behind the runner, circling properly under pop flies, throwing to the right base, etc.

Gehrig learned and always remained grateful for Pipp's help, even after that fateful June 2 day in 1925. Maybe you didn't know this, either. Pipp was beaned in batting practice that day, hit on the temple and carted away to the hospital for two weeks. According to Robinson, Huggins approached Gehrig in the clubhouse and told him: "You're my first baseman today. Today -- and from now on."

Pipp was shipped to Cincinnati after the 1925 season, and he spent three years there before his career was over. Well after the fateful lineup move and the start of The Streak, Gehrig and Pipp talked about how it has happened. Frank Graham recounts Gehrig's version of that day's lineup change in the 1942 book, "Lou Gehrig: A Quiet Hero":

"All I knew was that Hug told me I was going to play and I got my mitt and went out there and played. But a couple of years later, Wally told me just what was said between him and Hug. He said that an old injury around the right eye bothered him every once in a while and sometimes the pain would be so great he hardly could see out of the eye, and this day it was giving him the devil and he said to Hug:

" 'Hug, I got a terrible headache. I can hardly see.'

"And Hug said: 'Well, why don't you take the day off? Take a couple of aspirins and lie down, and I'll let Gehrig play today.' "

Gehrig, according to Graham, had a good laugh after Pipp's subsequent comment to the player who took his job.

"Take a couple of aspirins for my headache! Hug didn't know what a headache you were going to be to me. Why, you big bum, there isn't enough aspirin in the world to cure that headache."

Wally Pipp never would have his number retired by the Yankees. He never would make the Hall of Fame. But he's more than a piece of trivia fun. On this 100th-birthday celebration of Lou Gehrig's life, it is worth hitting the books and taking a closer look at the player Gehrig replaced at first base. In their own curious ways, each man helped make the other famous.

Mark Newman is a writer for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.