LOU GHERIG

Born: June 19, 1903 Yorkville, New York City, New York
Died: June 2, 1941 (aged 37) Riverdale, New York City, New York
Batted: Left Threw: Left
MLB debut
June 15, 1923 for the New York Yankees
Last MLB appearance
April 30, 1939 for the New York Yankees
Career statistics
Batting average	.340
Hits	2,721
Home runs	493
Runs batted in	1,995
Teams
New York Yankees (1923–1939)
Career highlights and awards
7× All-Star (1933–1939) 6× World Series champion (1927, 1928,1932, 1936–1938) 2× AL MVP (1927, 1936) Triple Crown (1934) AL batting champion (1934) 3× AL home run champion (1931, 1934, 1936) Hit 4 home runs in one game on June 3, 1932 New York Yankees captain (1935–1939) New York Yankees #4 retired Major League Baseball All-Century Team Major League Baseball All-Time Team

Henry Louis "Lou" or "Buster"^[1] Gehrig (June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941) was an American baseball player. He was a Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman who played 17 seasons for the New York Yankees, from 1923 through 1939. In 1939, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame^[2] and was the first MLB player to have his uniform number retired.

Gehrig was renowned for his prowess as a hitter and for his durability, a trait which earned him his nickname "The Iron Horse". He was an All-Star seven consecutive times,^[3] a Triple Crown winner once,^[4] an American League (AL) Most Valuable Player twice,^[5]and a member of six World Series champion teams. He had a lifetime .340 batting average, .632 slugging average, and a .447 on base average. He hit 493 home runs and had 1,995 runs batted in (RBI).

"The Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth" speech[edit]

On July 4, 1939 Gehrig delivered what has been called "baseball's Gettysburg Address" to a sold-out crowd at Yankee Stadium:^[62][63][64]

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. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

When you look around, wouldn't you consider it a privilege to associate yourself with such fine looking men as are standing in uniform in this ballpark today? 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 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 been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for. Thank you.

The diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) was confirmed on June 19, Gehrig's 36th birthday.^[52] The prognosis was grim: rapidly increasing paralysis, difficulty in swallowing and speaking, and a life expectancy of less than three years, although there would be no impairment of mental functions. Eleanor Gehrig was told that the cause of ALS was unknown but it was painless, non-contagious and cruel — the motor function of the central nervous system is destroyed but the mind remains fully aware to the end.SOURCE:WIKIPEDIA