Wally Pipp lost his starting job as Yankees first baseman to Lou Gehrig, who went on to star in that position for the next 2,130 games. The oft-repeated story behind the switch—that Pipp benched himself due to a headache—is an urban legend (it seems that manager Miller Huggins replaced lots of starters once the 1925 season went down the tubes; Pipp would hit just .230 that season), but that hasn't stopped many in the sports media from repeating various aspects of it as a cautionary tale for today's athletes. Here are some recent examples:

The Orlando Sentinel (via San Jose Mercury News) on Tampa Bay QB Chris Simms

It's not hard to see a Wally Pipp thing happening here. The Yankees' first baseman took a day off with a headache in 1925. His replacement, some guy named Gehrig, kept the job for the next 2,130 games. Change the headache to a spleen, subtract a couple thousand games and you have modern-day Tampa Bay.

Maryville Daily Times (via Nashville City Paper) on Tennessee RB Arian Foster

The last thing Tennessee running back Arian Foster wants to be is another Wally Pipp. A leg injury forced the Yankees first baseman to the bench and gave a young Lou Gehrig the opportunity to see the field. Gehrig turned the chance into a 13-year career and Pipp warmed a spot on the bench.
Not sure where Pipp's supposed leg injury came from, but at least it's consistent with Foster's injury.

Augusta Chronicle on Georgia's quarterback controversy

And please let's not trot out the tired cliché that a starter can't lose his job because of injury. Ask Wally Pipp how that worked out for him.

Spokane Spokesman-Review on USC wide receiver Steve Smith

The irony here is that in the lineup of Hollywood leading men the Trojans have fielded the past several years, Smith was barely mentioned in the credits. Even this year, he's a second banana to Dwayne Jarrett, who had to miss the game with a bum shoulder. It's not going to turn out to be Wally Pipp's headache, but it might as well have been to WSU.

Denver Post on St. Louis pitcher Adam Wainwright

It's a classic story: the understudy steps in for the ailing lead actor and becomes a star. Lou Gehrig did it for the Yankees, stepping in for Wally Pipp at first base and beginning his streak of 2,130 consecutive games played. Quarterback Tom Brady did it for the New England Patriots in 2001, replacing the injured Drew Bledsoe and guiding the Patriots to a Super Bowl title. Could St. Louis Cardinals rookie closer Adam Wainwright be next?

SI.com's Dr. Z on the New Orleans Saints

I saw the following written regarding rookie punter Steve Weatherford, who is booting them so well that injured regular Mitch Berger might not get his job back next year: "Weatherford might wind up the Wally Pipp to Berger." Dear fellow journalist: Wally Pipp was the Yankees' regular first baseman, who sat out the game with a headache one day, thereby paving the way for Lou Gehrig. He wasn't, you see, the guy who …
oh, why do I bother?
Dr. Z devotes his entire capsule about the Saints to making fun of some unnamed football writer for reversing his analogy. Gelf couldn't find the offending quote anywhere on the web, but even if it does exist, Dr. Z's facts are wrong, too.

Lancaster Sunday News on Ryan Howard and Jim Thome

But what if Thome hadn't gotten hurt last season, and given Howard the chance to show what's he's capable of? It's like when Lou Gehrig replaced Wally Pipp at first base in the Yankees starting lineup and never looked back. The analogy is a bit flawed, though, because Howard isn't in Gehrig's class—yet—and Thome is a probable Hall of Famer, unlike the forgettable Pipp.
Forgettable doesn't seem to be a good adjective to describe Pipp. Even if he's wrongly remembered, Pipp regularly makes it into the sports pages 80 years later. He was also, incidentally, a decent ballplayer, coming very close to collecting 2,000 hits, 1,000 runs scored, and 1,000 runs batted in.

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