Pipp Jesuit

Wally Pipp

The Rev. Tom Pipp, S.J. doesn't have a phobia about taking vacations, although it would be understandable if he did. After all, his grandfather was Wally Pipp, the first baseman for the New York Yankees who took the day off on June 2, 1925, and never got his job back. His fill-in, a youngster named Lou Gehrig, went on to play 2,130 consecutive games, and Wally Pipp went on to become the answer to a trivia question and be turned into a phrase -- "to be Pipped" -- that's still common today. 

Pipp, who recently arrived in St. Paul to set up a regional novitiate for Jesuit priests, said his grandfather never took any of it personally. "There was not even the slightest indication of bitterness," he said. The elder Pipp certainly had plenty of reason to feel bitter. 

He was a star in his own right during the 11 years he played in New York. He was the first Yankee to win the American League home-run title, doing so in back-to-back years, 1916 and 1917, and earning the nickname "Walloping Wallie."

Link (here) to the full article at The Star-Tribune