"Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth"

[henks]

"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."

70 years ago, these words were spoken in Yankee Stadium by a man known to many as the Iron Horse. Lou Gehrig was a man who played in over 2,100 consecutive games before falling ill to ALS, which is now known more commonly as Lou Gehrig's Disease. He was an icon not only in New York, but across the nation. His number, 4, was the first number ever retired...and rightfully so. Imagine if Babe Ruth never came along; how much more famous this guy would have been. Nevertheless, he's a true hero amongst men who played a game; America's game.

Today we celebrate the birthday of our great Nation. Also take a moment to celebrate a man who's passion for a game, America's game, led him to the record books.

to you Mr. Gehrig, and thank you for playing America's game with the passion that you did.

[NYgiantsfan5689]

henks, as a fan of a team other than the Yankees, props for posting this. This speech was the epiome of bravery to me. I look to this speech for inspiration. RIP Lou Gehrig, and may this live forever

[henks]

When it comes down to it, I'm a baseball fan. We all have our teams we live for, and teams that we despise. But at the end of the day, when a man's career, and life are coming to an end and he can no longer play the game he loved, and lived for, the uniform doesn't matter.

[Porter]

ESPN had a piece on him a couple of days ago that show how much Gehrig suffered after retiring. It was horrible the way he went out and I couldn't put my worst enemies through that.