July 4, 2014 - Remembering Lou Gehrig

On July 4^th, we celebrate the 75^th anniversary of Lou Gehrig’s famous final speech to the fans at Yankee Stadium.

Gehrig had been recently diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis).  A disease that would later be identified as “Lou Gehrig Disease.”  ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. It is fatal and there is no cure.

Lou Gehrig’s famous line is, “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 this earth.”

Lou Gehrig had played 14 years without missing a SINGLE game.

Today’s player are lucky to go a month without getting a day off.  During Gehrig’s time, teams traveled by train or bus, many times over night.  Yet, he never took a day off.

For his career, Gehrig had 493 homeruns and a batting average of .340.  He had almost twice as many walks (1508) as strikeouts (790).  He hit over .300 for 12 straight years.


He was the IRON HORSE.