"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a 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 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 the next nine 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 against her own daughter, that's something. When you have a father and 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 had a tough break - but I have an awful lot to live for! Thank you."
EVERY baseball fan should watch Pride of the Yankees............even if you're a Yankee hater.
_________________ “You’re good kids, stay together. Trust each other and be good teammates to one another. I believe there is a championship in this room.”
-Ernie Accorsi in his final address to the NY Giants locker room before retiring as GM in January of 2007
Lou Gehrig almost couldn't say farewell.
Gehrig was so emotional after the incredible display of affection for him on the afternoon of July 4, 1939, that he started walking off the field without saying a word.
"He was shy and didn't like to speak before large audiences," said Ray Robinson, author of Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time. "But the crowd chanted 'Lou, Lou' and implored him to speak."
Lou Gehrig Day was celebrated between games of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium and Gehrig had just become the first athlete to have his number (4) retired. He got a big brotherly hug from former teammate Babe Ruth, heard what he considered kind words from New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and former Yankees manager Joe McCarthy and saw piles of gifts at his feet from friends, players and well-wishers.
Gehrig was overwhelmed.
"I saw strong men weep this afternoon," wrote Shirley Povich of the Washington Post.
Master of Ceremonies Sid Mercer sensed that Gehrig might not be able to address the crowd of more than 55,000, so he said, "I shall not ask Lou Gehrig to make a speech. I do not believe that I should."
As the stadium crew started to remove the gifts and his former teammates began to leave the field, Gehrig also moved toward the home dugout. But then, he stopped and walked slowly toward the collection of microphones. He asked the crowd for silence.
"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."
Gehrig knew he was very sick but chose to focus on the wonderful dream life he had lived.
"He had prepared a speech the night before," said Robinson, who was at Yankee Stadium that day. "But when he got to the microphone, he spoke without notes, very much from the heart."
Gehrig found out on June 19, 1939, his 36th birthday, that he had an incurable and fatal disease called ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) that leads to progressive muscle weakness and paralysis. It would later become known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
"The really amazing thing, according to doctor's familiar with the disease, is that Lou didn't slur the speech or garble the words, considering how far along he was," Robinson said.
Gehrig had played in baseball games for 14 straight seasons (2,130 games) and became known as the "Iron Horse." But Gehrig considered it just good work ethic as he played through injuries, slumps and weariness. A few members of the media knew better because the record for consecutive games played before Gehrig was 1,307 by Everett Scott.
And Gehrig' s streak remained a seemingly unattainable mark until 56 years later when it was broken by Cal Ripken Jr.
"I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans."
Gehrig knew he would never be as popular with Yankee fans as Babe Ruth. But Gehrig was a humble man and had learned to accept his role.
"Let's face it, I'm not a headline guy," Gehrig once said. "I always knew that as long as I was following Babe to the plate I could have gone up there and stood on my head. No one would have noticed the difference. When the Babe was through swinging, whether he hit one or fanned, nobody paid any attention to the next hitter. They were all talking about what the Babe had done."
Gehrig idolized Ruth and tolerated "The Bambino's" jokes and ribbings about Gehrig being a "kink-headed college kid." They were friends during Gehrig's early years as they batted back-to-back in the lineup and were bridge partners on the long train rides between cities.
But, eventually, the two grew apart as the conservative Gehrig upheld the Yankee dignity and Ruth went about adding to his legend. Robinson said the genesis of the rift may have come from a statement Ruth made.
"Ruth became outspoken about the streak, saying it was, 'a lot of baloney and didn't mean anything to anyone,' " Robinson said. "And, of course, that upset Lou, who very much treasured for what he was doing."
Reportedly, Ruth and Gehrig did not speak during the latter years of Ruth's career and did not address each other at all until Ruth's hug at the stadium.
"Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career to associate with them for even one day?"
Gehrig helped the Yankees to six World Series championships and he and Ruth were the heart of the Yankees' "Murderer's Row" of 1927-28. That Yankee lineup is generally considered the best Major League team ever assembled. In fact, Ruth and Gehrig finished first and second in the AL in 14 of the 28 hitting categories in 1927. And Gehrig led the league in doubles and was third in triples.
He hit better than .300 his first 12 seasons and drove in more than 100 runs 13 years in a row.
"He was a man who came through in the clutch above all others," McCarthy said.
But it seemed to be Gehrig's fate to play in the shadow of others. First it was Ruth, and then Joe DiMaggio. Even on his greatest day as a professional (June 3, 1932), when Gehrig hit four home runs in one game against the A's, the spotlight went to long-time Giants manager John McGraw, who announced his retirement that day.
Gehrig also was a great postseason player. But after his best World Series, when he hit .529 with three home runs against the Cubs in 1932, the fans came away talking about Ruth's "called shot" against Charlie Root in Game 3.
Gehrig finished his career with a .340 batting average, 493 home runs, 1,991 RBIs and a .632 slugging percentage. He still holds the Major League record for grand slams in a career with 23. He also is the only player to drive in 500 runs over three consecutive seasons. He did it with 174 RBIs in 1930, 184 in 1931 and 151 in 1932.
"Gehrig most likely would have played several more years and finished with incredible statistics," said Ted Williams, the last man to hit .400. Williams also lists Gehrig second only to Ruth among the top twenty hitters of all time at Williams' museum in Hernando, Fla.
"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 the next nine 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!"
Gehrig and McCarthy had a special relationship. When he asked McCarthy to take him out of the lineup on May 2, 1939, two days after he went hitless for the fifth time in the first eight games of the season, it floored the skipper. But, as the captain of the Yankees, Gehrig felt it was his responsibility to remove himself from the lineup when he thought his presence in the lineup was hurting the Yankees.
"It was a sad day in the life of everybody who knew you when you told me you were quitting as a ballplayer because you felt yourself a hindrance to the team," McCarthy said on Gehrig's day at Yankee Stadium. "My God, man, you were never that."
McCarthy won 2,125 games in his 24 years in the big leagues and managed such greats as Ruth, Rogers Hornsby, DiMaggio and Williams. But McCarthy always had a special place in his heart for Gehrig.
"I had him for over eight years and he never gave me a moment's trouble," McCarthy said. "I guess you might say he was kind of my favorite."
"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!"
Gehrig was respected and beloved throughout baseball.
"He was a great guy, a very humble man and a great hitter," said Al Lopez, 93, the oldest living Hall of Famer, who caught 1,918 games in the Majors from 1928-47. "I was very fond of him."
Lopez added that he hated to see the legend end.
"I was with the (Boston) Braves and we used to train in St. Petersburg with the Yankees, so we saw them quite a bit," Lopez said. "One spring (1939), he came up to the plate and said, 'Al, you've seen me hit quite a bit. What am I doing wrong? I'm not hitting at all. I don't have a feeling for the ball.'
"I told him, 'It looks like you are just pushing at the ball.' Right after that, they went North and he went to the Mayo Clinic and found out what was wrong."
"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 against her own daughter, that's something. When you have a father and 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."
Gehrig was fittingly portrayed by Gary Cooper in the film classic, "Pride of the Yankees," consistently acclaimed as one of the best baseball movies of all time. But it also was a touching story about Gehrig's dedication to his wife and parents.
His mother and father, Christina and Heinrich, were poor German immigrants and Lou was their only surviving child. He was named Heinrich Ludwig after his father but became known by his Americanized name as he grew up in the Washington Heights section of New York. Lou's father had trouble getting steady work and his mother toiled as a maid and cook where she could. Lou helped out by delivering clean clothes.
Because of the anti-German sentiment of the time, Gehrig was often ridiculed and became shy. He had to be ordered by one of his teachers to attend his first organized baseball game. At Commerce High School, he made good grades through tireless work and helped his school teams to championships in football, baseball and soccer.
Just after Gehrig turned 17, Commerce was invited to play in a high school baseball championship at beautiful, new Wrigley Field in Chicago. Gehrig almost did not go because his mother did not want him to travel that far.
"This baseball is a waste of time,'' his mother said. "It will never get you anywhere."
But Mama Gehrig consented, and Lou ended up hitting a long grand slam out of Wrigley Field as Commerce won the game 12-6. Only 18 home runs had been hit at Wrigley Field by the professionals that season and Gehrig quickly became known as the, "Babe Ruth of the school yards."
"That was the first time he got newspaper publicity," Robinson said. "They even spelled his name wrong."
Gehrig was awarded an athletic scholarship to Columbia and played football but baseball for only one season. His mother, who worked as a cook at a fraternity house at Columbia, still hoped her son would become an engineer.
"His parents didn't regard baseball as a proper way of earning a living," Robinson said. "They thought he would be a bum playing baseball instead of earning a living."
Years later, even after he had become an established Yankees star, Christina Gehrig still would remind sportswriters that her "Looie" was a college man.
In 1923, he was offered $3,500 to go sign with the New York Yankees, a dream come true. Gehrig spent two seasons with Hartford of the Eastern League and made it to the Major Leagues before his 20th birthday. But he didn't start right away. Mostly he pinch hit. He did just that on May 31, 1925, and, the next day, he played first base because the starter, Wally Pipp, had a headache.
Unlike Ruth, Gehirg was not much of a ladies man, but he married the former Eleanor Twitchell when he was 30.
"Eleanor was very different from Lou," Robinson said. "She was from a well-to-do Chicago family and sort of the epitome of a 'Roaring 20s' flapper. She had interests in things that Lou didn't, such as the opera, theater and the arts."
But Lou and Eleanor were quite the match and became inseparable. Unlike many other players' wives, she went on road trips, including Spring Training in Florida.
And she was there, supporting him, at Yankee Stadium that day that he made his famous farewell speech.
"So, I close in saying that I might have had a bad break - but I have an awful lot to live for."
Gehrig lived for nearly two more years, until June 2, 1941 when he died at the age of 38. However, because of the man, the myth and the movie, Gehrig will be remembered not for how he died but how he lived.
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