“Watch a man in times of adversity to discover what kind of man he is; for then at last words of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart and the mask is torn off.”                                                                                                                                      Titus Lucretius Cares

 July 4, 1939 – Yankee Stadium – Bronx, New York: They packed Yankee Stadium that sultry afternoon, 61,808 strong. Fans came for Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day. Two months after his final game, and just one month after he learned he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the disease that would take his life and later bear his name, the Yankee first baseman was being honored for his stellar career.

After an hour of hearing from dignitaries, owners, and teammates, fans began to chant, “We want Lou.” The shy Gehrig walked to home plate with his ball cap in his hand. “For the past two weeks, you have been reading about the bad break I got,” he told the somber crowd. “Yet today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig was born in 1903 to German immigrant parents who settled in Manhattan. His mother Americanized his name to Henry Louis (Lou) Gehrig. The powerfully built, broad-shouldered athlete played baseball and football at Columbia University for two years before, against his mother’s wishes, signing a baseball contract with the New York Yankees.

Because of his towering home runs, Gehrig was hailed as the second coming of Babe Ruth, who was in his 10^th season with the Bronx Bombers. On June 1, 1925, during Gehrig’s rookie season, veteran Yankee first basemen, Wally Pipp, had a headache and was replaced by Gehrig in the lineup.

The Iron Horse, as Gehrig would come to be known, didn’t miss a game for the next 14 years, and Pipp would be traded at the end of the season.  Gehrig played in 2,130 consecutive games, a record that would stand for more than 50 years. During those years, the Yankees won six World Series championships.

The Iron Horse’s consecutive game streak finally ended in Detroit on May 2, 1939, when Gehrig took himself out of the lineup. Something was wrong. His batting average had slumped. He was exhausted and weak. A month later, he was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for a physical evaluation. On his 36^th birthday, Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with ALS.

The Yankee organization was devasted by the news. Two weeks later, on Independence Day, they honored their big first baseman. At the microphone, Gehrig fought back tears as his farewell address continued. “I’m lucky. I have been in ballparks for 17 years and have received nothing but kindness and encouragement from fans. It has been a privilege to associate with the men in uniform this afternoon. To have spent nine years with the best manager in baseball, Joe McCarthy, that is something.”

Gehrig wiped away tears, “When you have a father and mother who work all their lives for you, it’s a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and showed more courage than you dreamed existed, that’s a blessing…So, I close by saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I am the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

After the talk, Babe Ruth walked out and hugged Gehrig’s neck. It was an extraordinary moment. After the season, the Yankees retired Lou Gehrig’s number 4, and his locker was moved to the Baseball Hall of Fame. In December 1939, Lou Gehrig was elected to the Hall of Fame after the Baseball Writers Association waived the five-year waiting period. The Iron Horse died two years later.

It’s not Lou Gehrig’s 14 consecutive seasons without missing a game, his two MVP awards, or his Triple Crown, for which fans most cherish him. It is not Gehrig’s 493 home runs, his 1990 runs batted in, his 0.340 career batting average, his American League record of 184 RBI in one season, or his major league record of 23 grand slams. Nor is it his 10 seasons with at least 30 homers, 12 consecutive seasons batting 0.300, or career on-base-slugging percentage that trails only Ruth and Ted Williams.

What fans remember most about this humble man with a grateful heart is a short speech, less than 300 words, that he gave on a hot afternoon 85 years ago. Faced with certain death, he chose to focus on others and declared himself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.

Each year, on July 4, major league baseball celebrates Lou Gehrig’s legacy and the fight against his dreaded disease. The cure has not been found, but someday, medical science will triumph, and those cured from ALS may very well consider themselves the luckiest people on the face of the earth.