Lou Gehrig, the man who was once a permanent fixture in the New York Yankees lineup, now has a permanent place on the Major League calendar.
June 2 will hereby be known as “Lou Gehrig Day,” Major League Baseball announced Thursday. The annual, league-wide event will be a time not only to honor and celebrate the legacy of the Hall of Fame first baseman but to raise awareness and funds to fight amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the awful disease that ended Gehrig’s life and informally bears his name.
Gehrig joins Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente as the only players to have a day reserved in their honor across MLB. The June 2 date is significant in Gehrig’s story both as the day he became the Yankees’ regular first baseman in 1925 (replacing starter Wally Pipp, who famously asked out of the lineup because of a headache) and, sadly, as the day Gehrig passed away, in 1941, roughly two years after he was diagnosed with ALS.
Always a good thing to bring more awareness and hopefully more progress toward a cure for such a debilitating illness. Puts me in mind of Piscotty and what his mother went through and what many others have gone through.
I immediately thought of our friend Molly. I hope she is doing well. Here is a link to her Facebook fundraiser page for the ALS Association-St. Louis Regional Chapter’s Walk to Defeat ALS scheduled for June.
I immediately thought of our friend Molly. I hope she is doing well. Here is a link to her Facebook fundraiser page for the ALS Association-St. Louis Regional Chapter’s Walk to Defeat ALS scheduled for June.