Seventy five years ago today, July 4, 1939, the great Lou Gehrig, stricken at age 36 with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, (ALS) delivered his famed, "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth" speech at Yankee Stadium before more than 60,000 fans and a nationwide radio audience.
Lou Gehrig passed away less than two years later. In the years since, little more is known about the cause and no cure has been found for Lou Gehrig's disease.
Gehrig's story is well known and needs no further recounting.
Now, another young ball player has shared his own story of his journey from the playing field to ALS patient in the hope of focusing increased attention on this horrible affliction - and has done so with the same grace and courage as the Iron Horse.
His name is Peter Frates. Here is the link to his story.
Ice Bucket Challenge,
Lou Gehrig's farewell speech, July 4, 1939
Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about
the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face
of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never
received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.
Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it
the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure,
I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also,
the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years
with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next
nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the
best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.
When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right
arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift—that's something. When everybody
down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with
trophies—that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes
sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter—that's something. When you
have a father and a mother who work all their lives so that you can have an
education and build your body—it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has
been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed—that's
the finest I know.
So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad
break, but I've got an awful lot to live for. Thank you.
—Lou Gehrig at Yankee Stadium, July 4, 1939
Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth reunited.
Lou Gehrig on discrimination in baseball
No comments:
Post a Comment