ABOUT MURRAY BECKER
Murray Becker was born in 1909 in Brooklyn, NY. He was a photographer and photojournalist. Becker's photos displayed sports and war topics - from baseball to destructive weapons.
EDUCATION AND COLLEGE
Becker was self-taught in photography, and his parents were photographer as well. He was a staff photographer for The New York American and The Albany Times-Union before joining The A.P. in 1929.
BECKER'S LATER PHOTOS
Before the Hindenburg disaster, Becker took photos of famous baseball players - in particular, Lou Gehrig. The photo taken below was captured on July 4, 1939, otherwise known as "Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day". He made a speech about his major improvement in baseball - winning 2,130 games in a row in two weeks. “Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”
BECKER'S EARLIER PHOTOS
Becker was most famous for his iconic photos of the Hindenburg Disaster, which happened before he took pictures for baseball. This took place on May 6, 1937 – this was an incident that involved a burning German passenger airship that crashed into a tower.
SO WHY IS HE FAMOUS?
Even though he took several different photos, Becker became most famous for his iconic photos of the Hindenburg Disaster in 1937. Becker received the award "World Press Photo Award for Sports", for his baseball photos. Instead of an award for the Hindenburg Disaster, Becker's photos appeared in the newspaper - which left many viewers astonished.
WORKS CITED
Flockhart, Burt A. "Known for Shots of Hindenburg Disaster, Gehrig Farewell : Photographer Murray Becker Dies at 77." Los Angeles Times 20 Mar. 1986: 1. Los Angeles Times. Web. 30 Nov. 2016. <http://articles.latimes.com/1986-03-20/local/me-21599_1_murray-becker>.
Grossman, Dan. "The Hindenburg Disaster." Airships.net. Dan Grossman, 1997. Web. 30 Nov. 2016. <http://www.airships.net/hindenburg/disaster/>.
"Luckiest Man." National Baseball Hall of Fame. Cogapp, 2016. Web. 30 Nov. 2016. <http://baseballhall.org/discover/lou-gehrig-luckiest-man>.