June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941
It is the 70th anniversary of the death of Lou Gehrig – one of the most beloved baseball players of all time for both his athletic talent and his genuine character. Dying just short of his 38th birthday, Gehrig succumbed to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (“ALS”). The disease that now often bears his name is a disease that causes the degeneration of neurons in the spinal cord.
Gehrig only ever played baseball as a New York Yankee and on July 4, 1939 after he was officially diagnosis with ALS by doctors at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN [1], Gehrig addressed baseball fans with his famous farewell speech…
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…
In March 2011, The New York Times ran an article about newly found film of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig during their visit to Sioux City, Iowa for a game in 1927. Maggie Green’s grandfather, Phil Donohue met Lou Gehrig that day 1927. You can read more on this remarkable piece of history here.
