Lou Gehrig's house on the market in New Rochelle

Joe Torres Image
Monday, March 21, 2016
Lou Gehrig's house on the market in New Rochelle
Joe Torres is in New Rochelle with the story

NEW ROCHELLE, New York (WABC) -- The home of a baseball legend is on the market in Westchester County.

"It needs a lot of work, you need about 40 windows. You have some electrical problems. The wires are very old and brittle," said Jimmy Fizzinoglia, the current homeowner.

"If work was done at the house, it would be a beautiful home," said Angela Dabruzzo, a neighbor.

Fizzinoglia doesn't have the money needed to fix up his New Rochelle home. It's not just any home. The 4-bedroom, 2-and-a-half bath New Rochelle house next to Angela Dabruzzo once belonged to Yankee Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig.

It is now up for sale for $400,000. That's more than $100,000 below market value. It's also $80,000 less than what Fizzinoglia paid for it in 2008. He's hoping some Yankee fan will come to his rescue.

"When they pay like $100,000 for a shirt, I mean, a jersey, why wouldn't somebody go to buy this house and restore it," Fizzinoglia said.

"I have been given a bad break, but I have an awful lot to live for," Gehrig had said.

The legendary first baseman, nicknamed "The Iron Horse" for a 14-year streak of 2,130 consecutive games played, died in 1941 of ALS, which later became known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He was just 37 years old.

His former house sits on the street named in his honor, a street Tony Funigiello has called home for 60 years.

"When we moved here I knew the story about, what's his name, "Mr. Gehrig". Mr. Gehrig living here for a very short time, I think two years," Funigiello said.

Gehrig bought the New Rochelle home for his parents back in 1928.

Over the years, Father Time and Mother Nature have taken their toll on the now 116-year-old Dutch colonial.

But Bob and Leslie Dowling of Scarsdale see a unique opportunity. They plan to put in an offer.

"You take down these trees, right, and you re-do this house, and it really wouldn't, my wife might disagree, it wouldn't cost that much to re-do this house," Dowling said.

There's a $400,000 price tag because the owner is selling the home "as is".

Mr. Fizzinoglia says his cousins once found some baseball bats in the backyard, perhaps they once belonged to the Yankee legend. While new owners will undoubtedly make some necessary renovations, the history there will always remain the same.