THE MOST HAPPIEST DAY OF TERESA WRIGHT, HER BIRTHDAY HISTORY.

 the most happiest day of Teresa Wright, her birthday history, 

She was treated with great civility by George Steinbrenner and his wife. And when she went to the mound, the crowd applauded her warmly for her pitching effort, I love every minute of that day and I get great pleasure watching such talented players as Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams.

Teresa Wright, a fresh-faced young actress from New York (fittingly, the Bronx) had just been signed to a long-term contract by the movie producer Samuel Goldwyn. 

He had seen her in ''Life With Father'' on Broadway, and was captivated by her performance. 

At the time, Wright didn't know a baseball from a mothball, and Goldwyn shared her ignorance of the game. 

But the two would soon become permanently connected to one of baseball's most precious and painful moments.

   One day Niven Busch, Goldwyn's story editor and executive producer (as well as the future husband of Wright) insisted that the impatient Goldwyn sit down for a moment in his screening room to watch a Paramount newsreel of Lou Gehrig's farewell speech at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939. 

The Iron Horse's words, which have since won distinction as baseball's Gettysburg Address, brought tears to Goldwyn's eyes, even though he knew little about the man.

 Busch then pushed for Goldwyn to make a movie about Gehrig's tragically short life. Goldwyn agreed, saying he viewed such a film as a ''human drama and not a baseball picture.''

   An impressive crew was assembled to make ''The Pride of the Yankees.'' 

Sam Wood, a baseball fan, was the director and Herman Mankiewicz, later to be co-author with Orson Welles of ''Citizen Kane,'' worked on the screenplay, along with the New York sportswriter Paul Gallico, who, like Gehrig, had attended Columbia University. 

The Gehrig role would go to Gary Cooper, the handsome, laconic Montanan who could ride a horse but wasn't much at hitting a baseball. 

To play Gehrig's wife, Eleanor, a lively, pert Chicago sophisticate who had married the shy Lou in 1933, Goldwyn selected Wright, who had just played an ingenue and won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress in the enormously popular ''Mrs. Miniver''  (1942).

 At 24, Wright projected the image of every American lad's wholesome dream wife.

   When ''The Pride of the Yankees'' was being shot, Wright met with Eleanor Gehrig on the set and liked her instantly.

 Throughout the movie she wore a bracelet given to Eleanor by Lou. Since Wright was a small woman, she had her heels buttressed so she could reach up to Cooper's face in the more intimate scenes. 

The film was released in July 1942, seven months after Pearl Harbor. It was awash in honest sentiment and became a sizable box-office hit. 

Wright went on to a successful career, both in movies (1943's ''Shadow of a Doubt,'' 1946's ''The Best Years of Our Lives'') and on the stage. 

But even as an integral figure in the Gehrig mythology, she still knew practically nothing about baseball.

   In 1998, Rick Cerrone, the publicity chief of the Yankees, called Wright at her home in Connecticut. 

He wanted to know if she would like to throw out the first ball as part of the regular Fourth of July celebration of Gehrig's speech.

 Wright informed Cerrone that she had never thrown a baseball in her life.

 What's more, she said, she had never even seen a ball game, though she had been to Yankee Stadium once in connection with some promotional work for ''The Pride of the Yankees.'' 

''I didn't throw a ball at 8, and I can't do it at 80,'' she said.

   But the invitation intrigued her. A woman of considerable spunk, she decided to accept. 

Before leaving for Yankee Stadium that afternoon with her then 27-year-old grandson, Jonah Smith, she practiced throwing a ball with him in her garage.

 Once at the stadium, Wright was presented with a World Series jacket and cap. The Yankees' current first baseman, Tino Martinez, kissed her on the cheek and handed her a dozen roses. 

She met Manager Joe Torre -- ''a wonderful, charming man'' -- and had her picture taken with him.

 She was treated with great civility by George Steinbrenner and his wife. And when she went to the mound, the crowd applauded her warmly for her pitching effort.

   From that day Wright became addicted to the game. She developed into a diehard Yankee fan, with an appreciation of ''the beauty of the game.'' ''The whole thing is pure theater to me,'' said Wright.

 ''I love every minute of it and I get great pleasure watching such talented players as Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams. 

They are exciting and you know that they love to play. I admire their spirit, above all.'' 

  Happy Birthday, Teresa Wright! 

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