Like the rest of the Yankees (11 games under .500 entering June), Pipp was having a miserable year in 1925 — hitting .230 with three home runs — and was one of three veterans benched by manager Miller Huggins in favor of younger players. There would have been no need for the apocryphal headache yarn, which cropped up years later, if Gehrig hadn't become the Iron Horse.

Pipp himself would get the story wrong in later interviews, attributing his benching to a beaning he suffered in batting practice. That beaning did happen, but it occurred a month after he was benched for the old-fashioned reason of stinking up the joint.

Wally Pipp became a cautionary tale. Don't give that kid nipping at your heels a shot or you may lose your job for good. (Pipp was dealt to Cincinnati at the end of the year.)

This season has been rife with potential Wally Pipp stories. Here's an All-Star lineup of replacements who have been considerable improvements over the guys they started the season behind on the depth chart.

1. Denard Span, OF, Twins

When Michael Cuddyer went down on June 27 with a strained tendon in his left index finger he was hitting .252 with three home runs. Though Cuddyer had been struggling, he had hit 40 home runs with 190 RBI over the previous two seasons and the power-challenged Twins would be turning to yet another slap hitter in Span. Drop-off? Hardly. Span has been a revelation. He is hitting .330 since taking over for Cuddyer and has an .868 OPS on the season. Span has also made a slew of remarkable plays in right field. Cuddyer is on a rehab assignment, but Span has been way too good to sit down.

2. Jed Lowrie, SS, Red Sox

Julio Lugo was already having a fairly miserable season when he broke from the box, trying to beat out a ground ball on July 11. He had a meager .685 OPS and led all shortstops in errors. But he was also in year two of a 4-year, $36M deal and Boston was loathe to bench that kind of dough. As Lugo neared the bag his quadriceps popped, providing an opportunity for Lowrie to play every day. How's he doing? Let's just say the Red Sox are unconcerned with the progress of Lugo's rehab. Lowrie leads all shortstops with 15 RBI since the All-Star break, has a .771 OPS and has been a defensive upgrade — his supposed weakness — over Lugo.

3. Chris Davis, 1B, Rangers

While there will always be only one Lou Gehrig, Davis at least shares similarities with the legend. He is a strapping, left-handed hitting first baseman with Hall of Fame potential. After trying to limp along with Ben Broussard (.159 BA) and then Chris Shelton (.216) at first, Texas turned the job over to the 6'4'', 235-pound 22-year-old. In 36 games, Davis has raked, hitting .295 with 11 home runs and a .636 slugging percentage. Projected over a full season we're looking at a 50-homer, 130-RBI welcome to the bigs. For comparison, Gehrig also hit .295 in his rookie season but his slugging percentage was a mere .531.

4. Matt Joyce, OF, Tigers

With a surgically-repaired shoulder limiting him in the outfield and a strained oblique sidelining him for 40 games, Gary Sheffield's injury woes opened the door for Joyce. And the 24-year-old outfielder has made the most of the opportunity, cranking 10 home runs in 142 at bats. Joyce's .585 slugging percentage leads the team and his .922 OPS is over 200 points better than the broken-down Sheffield's .708.

5. Fernando Tatis, OF, Mets

Moises Alou has hit .342 in his first 102 games for the Mets. The problem is the Mets have played 276 games over that stretch. The fact that Alou blew out his hamstring while rehabbing a calf injury pretty much sums up his tenure in New York. Enter Tatis. The once-promising third baseman most famous for hitting two grand slams in one inning as a member of the Cardinals had played 28 games in the bigs over the last four seasons. But reinvented as an everyday outfielder, Tatis has enjoyed an improbable resurrection this season in Queens, hitting .310 with an .873 OPS.

6. Kelly Shoppach, C, Indians

The Indians may not be ready to give up on Victor Martinez's bat, but the emergence of Shoppach has freed them from having to worry about the injury-prone Martinez as an everyday catcher. While battling elbow and hamstring injuries, Martinez has failed to go deep in 198 at-bats. Shoppach, meanwhile, has hit 12 home runs in 217 AB and averaged an extra-base hit every seven at bats. He leads AL catchers in homers and OPS (.879).

7. Ramon Vazquez, 3B, Rangers

Wrist and shoulder injuries ruined Hank Blalock's season and made it more unlikely that he would ever fulfill his once bright promise. But the journeyman Vazquez has been a revelation. He is hitting .321 with a .390 OBP and has driven in 39 runs in 243 at bats at the bottom of the Ranger order.

8. Joe Inglett, 2B, Blue Jays

When Aaron Hill went down with a concussion on May 29, career minor leaguer Joe Inglett, 30, was given a chance to play every day. In 204 at bats, Inglett has hit .289 with six triples and a .762 OPS while stealing seven bases in eight attempts. His numbers project to 21 steals and a staggering 18 triples over a full season.

9. Sidney Ponson, P, Yankees

Stop laughing. Granted, usually if Sidney Ponson is pitching for you in August the season is a lost cause and his employer has low self-esteem. Few pitchers in history have combined on-field and off-field track records quite like his and they wouldn't find themselves pitching for a contender in a pennant race. After going 24-36 with a 5.86 ERA from 2004 through 2007, Ponson landed in Texas this season but was run out of town by Ron Washington for his attitude. With injuries to Chien-Ming Wang, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, the Yanks were beggars who couldn't be choosers and they handed the ball to Ponson. By beating the Rangers on Wednesday he improved to 7-2 on the season with a 4.23 ERA. (By comparison, "phenoms" Hughes and Kennedy are a combined 0-7 with an 8.39 ERA) Six times this season Ponson has pitched at least six innings while allowing one or no runs. Hughes and Kennedy may be returning, but they'd have to shave their ERA in half to be better than Ponson.