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Thread: Lou Gehrig

  1. #1
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    Lou Gehrig

    Henry Louis ("Lou") Gehrig (June 19, 1903 â?? June 2, 1941), born Ludwig Heinrich Gehrig, was an American baseball player in the first half of the twentieth century. He set several Major League and American League records and was voted the greatest first baseman of all time by the Baseball Writers' Association.[2] His record for most career grand slam home runs (23) still stands today. A native of New York City, he played for the New York Yankees until his career was cut short by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), now commonly referred to in the United States as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
    Gehrig was known as "The Iron Horse" for his durability. Over a 15-season span between 1925 and 1939, he played in 2,130 consecutive games. The streak ended when Gehrig became disabled with the fatal neuromuscular disease that claimed his life two years later. His streak, long believed to be one of baseball's few unbreakable records, stood for 56 years until finally broken by Cal Ripken, Jr., of the Baltimore Orioles on September 6, 1995. Ripken would go on to play in a total of 2,632 consecutive games through September 20, 1998, setting the current record.
    Gehrig accumulated 1,995 RBI in seventeen seasons with a lifetime batting average of .340, a lifetime on-base percentage of .447, and a lifetime slugging percentage of .632. A seven-time All-Star (the first All-Star game was not until 1933; he did not play in the 1939 game, retiring a week before it was held â?? at Yankee Stadium[3]), he won the American League's Most Valuable Player award in 1927 and 1936 and was a Triple Crown winner in 1934, leading the American League in batting average, home runs, and RBI.
    His popularity with fans endures to this day, as is evidenced by him being one of the leading vote-getters on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, chosen in 1999.

  2. #2
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    To this day, "Pride of the Yankees" makes me misty eyed. In my opinion if Gehrig didn't get stricken down so young he would have set records that Ruth, Aaron, Bonds, Ripken and Rodriguez wouldnt beat.

  3. #3
    firegilnotguns Guest
    When I was a young kid I got this book Lou Gehrig, Boy of the Sandlotsout of my classroom library. I chose it because I liked the cover (it was a really old style hardback and not like any of the other books...it was published about 40 years before I went to that school.) I read it ALL the time...I was big into baseball anyway and this book I happened to pick up just happened to be about baseball. I became such a huge Gehrig fan and my teacher ended up giving me the book to keep- it's still on a shelf i my parents' house.

  4. #4
    Jazbabee Guest
    ALS is such a cruel disease. I lost my father to this one, and believe me - it's a suffering no one should have to endure. As a result I am now a National Advocate for the National ALS organization.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jazbabee View Post
    ALS is such a cruel disease. I lost my father to this one, and believe me - it's a suffering no one should have to endure. As a result I am now a National Advocate for the National ALS organization.
    My Mom died of this disease in Dec of last year, and I agree - it is a cruel disease. You end up paralyzed, barely able to breath and swallow. All your muscles are taken away from you.

    My Mom was a very independant woman and to have everything taken away from her - even to be able to scratch her own nose, was devastating...

    She managed to live for 18 months after diagnosis.

    I wouldn't wish ALS on my worst enemy.

  6. #6
    Bigfoot Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Aries65 View Post
    I wouldn't wish ALS on my worst enemy.
    Me neither. Very cruel disease. My uncle passed Jan 04 because of ALS.

  7. #7
    RoRo Guest
    this is the cruelest disease....I simply cannot imagince being a prisoner of my own body...God bless all who have experienced it in any way

  8. #8
    Kathyf Guest
    I love that movie Pride of the Yankee's so sad that he was stricken with Als.

  9. #9
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    Today is the 70th anniversary of the heartbreaking farewell speech, so after almost 2 years, here's a bump-up and a salute to a brave, classy gentleman.

    From http://www.lougehrig.com/

    "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 this 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 just 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 six 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 with her own daughter - that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so 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 may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for."

  10. #10
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    Wow. What humility.

  11. #11
    pattykad Guest
    Yup, my uncle died way back in 84 with it. He did live quite a few years
    with it. Back then it was mainly an older man's disease, but now it's
    changed....all ages and both sexes.... I wonder why.

    I read Gehrig's wife's book back then. If I recall he went to bed and
    didn't get up again. Maybe she underplayed it for the book but his
    final days did not seem as agonizing as it is for most people who
    pass from it.

  12. #12
    ChargerBill Guest



  13. #13
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    They did a tribute in Philly today - I turned on the TV and Chris Coste was giving the speech, I thought he was talking about himself! Then I realized I recognized the words. So very sad.


  14. #14
    Hobbes12 Guest
    If he didnt get that disease he probady would still hold the record for playing the most games in a row...

  15. #15
    STRAIGHT Guest
    One of the greatest players ever. He hit a ton of homers and a ton of R.B.I.'s along with a great batting average. A.L.S. is what killed my aunt back in 1999 too. it was horrible.

  16. #16
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    i cannot remember all the details from a column on a sports page 20 years ago,but they took the current player making over a million dollars a season,with the worst stats,then worked out that with Lous' numbers on that scale,he would be worth $1.4 billion.
    Knowlege Comes With Deaths release

    Heaven's on the pillow,it's Silence competes with Hell

    "If you don't go to other peoples' funerals,they won't come to yours."-Yogi Berra

  17. #17
    jeca Guest
    My mom died from ALS 2/8/94. It's a horrible, horrible disease. She was only 47.

    I had heard of him before she got sick, but never paid much attention. After reading up on him he seemed like a pretty good guy. His speech makes me get a little teary eyed.

  18. #18
    STRAIGHT Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by midnitelamp View Post
    i cannot remember all the details from a column on a sports page 20 years ago,but they took the current player making over a million dollars a season,with the worst stats,then worked out that with Lous' numbers on that scale,he would be worth $1.4 billion.
    And he did it without steroids. That team went from having Ruth to having Gehrig to having DiMaggio to having Mantle all in a row in a span of fourty years...Wow!!!

  19. #19
    Hobbes12 Guest
    Bronx Bombers...

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