Jerry Crowe (http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/la-columnist-jcrowe,1,479974.columnist):

Matt Dahlgren's book details the damage done to grandfather Babe Dahlgren's major league career by unsubstantiated rumors of marijuana use.
February 11, 2008

Probably the last thing anyone wants to read these days is another story about drugs and baseball.

But this one's different.

It's the story of Babe Dahlgren, a major league first baseman from 1935 to 1946 probably best remembered as the man who replaced Lou Gehrig in the New York Yankees' lineup on May 2, 1939, ending the Iron Horse's incredible 14-year consecutive-game streak after a then-record 2,130 games.

Less widely known is that Dahlgren's career and life were waylaid by an unsubstantiated rumor that he smoked marijuana.

"I was turned down many times by literary agents and publishers," says the Irvine-based Dahlgren, who published the book himself. "But what kept me going was, I promised him I'd do it. I know that might sound corny, but it's the reality. I loved him to no end. I respected him. And I know how badly he wanted this story told. I know how badly this game hurt him. And so I had to do it. . . .

"I just couldn't let him down."


Rumor in Town: A Grandson's Promise to Right a Wrong (Hardcover)
by Matt Dahlgren (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/103-9064582-7596643?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Matt%20Dahlgren) (Author)
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Amazon.com: Rumor in Town: A Grandson's Promise to Right a Wrong: Books: Matt Dahlgren (http://www.amazon.com/Rumor-Town-Grandsons-Promise-Right/dp/0979583403/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202765015&sr=1-1)

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