Lou Gehrig

By Tom Kirvan

“Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

So said Lou Gehrig on July 4, 1939, some two weeks after he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), the disease that today bears his name.

Gehrig – who died on June 2, 1941, nearly two years after he gave his poignant retirement speech in front of more than 61,000 adoring fans at Yankee Stadium – used the farewell opportunity to express gratitude, focus on the positives of his life and career, and share his courageous and humble perspective on facing a terminal illness.

Known as the legendary “Iron Horse” for playing in 2,130 consecutive games, Gehrig was a stalwart first baseman for the New York Yankees, batting cleanup in a star-studded lineup that also featured Babe Ruth. He knocked in more than 100 runs in 13 straight seasons, setting the American League single-season RBI mark of 185. In 1934, he captured the Triple Crown with a batting average of .363, while swatting 49 home runs and driving in 166 runs.

His baseball statistics go on and on, yet Gehrig was particularly beloved by fans for his unassuming and humble nature, along with his willingness to take a stand against the color barrier in the national pastime.

Lou Gehrig*

“There is no room in baseball for discrimination,” Gehrig proclaimed. “It is our national pastime and a game for all.”

Gehrig was a key part of six Yankee teams that won the World Series and served as captain of the so-called “Bronx Bombers” from 1935 until his death in 1941. In 1969, he was voted the greatest first baseman of all time by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. In 1989, on the 50th anniversary of the end of his consecutive-game streak, Gehrig was posthumously honored with a United States postage stamp.

“I love to win; but I love to lose almost as much,” Gehrig said during the peak of his baseball career. “I love the thrill of victory, and I also love the challenge of defeat.”

*Wide World Photos, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons