On the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's famous farewell speech, MLB took time to honor his memory yesterday. All players and coaches wore a commemorative patch with the ALS logo to raise awareness for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, the disease that killed him. First base in every ballpark also displayed the logo.
Gehrig's stats were impressive for any era. He played 17 seasons at first base for the Yankees, batting .340, hitting 493 home runs and 1995 RBIs. He had 13 consecutiveds seasons when he had 100 hits and 100 RBIs and hit a record 23 grand slams in his career. He played in 2130 consecutive games, only to be forced to sit out when the effects of ALS started to affect his game.
The reality of ALS is that at the time of Gehrig's diagnosis, his life expectancy was 2-3 years. Sadly, 70 years later, that is still the case. To make a donation to ALS, visit www.alsa.org.