July 4th is also a special day for baseball fans. July 4th, 1939 was "Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day." Gehrig, who earned the nickname "The Iron Horse" for playing in 2,130 consecutive games (a record broken by Cal Ripken, Jr. in 1995), had become seriously ill and was forced to retire from playing. After an emotional series of speeches, Gehrig stepped up to the mic and addressed the crowd, delivering the now immortal line, "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Despite my cynicism when it comes to most things, this video still gets me misty-eyed. Yes, sports are just another form of entertainment, but there are times when certain events just get to you. This is definitely one of them.
A couple of trivia questions to hit people with at your barbeque tonight: Gehrig's record for the most grand slams in a season, 23, still stands. "Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day" was held one week before the All-Star Game was played at Yankee Stadium, which is also where the All-Star Game will be held this year. And after retiring, he took a job as the New York City Parole Commissioner, turning down more lucrative job offers; he then went to visit prisons, asking that the media not follow him. (source) Can you imagine Alex "it's all about me" Rodriquez doing something like that? Um, no.
Bottom line: great player, great Yankee, and by all accounts, a real class act.
Video of the speech is below, or click here for the text.
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image: Wikipedia
