The Silver Screen Oasis

Tomorrow is the 75th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's emotional farewell speech to baseball.
In honor of that event and to help raise funds for the deadly disease that killed Gehrig, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, more commonly called "Lou Gehrig's Disease", Major League Baseball partnered with the ALS foundation and as part of fundraiser, produced this video of Lou's speech recited by every first baseman currently starting as well as NY Yankees captain Derek Jeter.

It played on the scoreboard at Yankee Stadium yesterday afternoon:

I read some account of this the other day. For the life of me I can't remember where but the article talked about him and the speech.

It said he was very shy and a most likable fellow. There was confirmation from his wife that there was some prepared remarks. Overall, it was a powerful moment.

Baseball fans should never lose sight of the history of the game. For years in Baltimore we heard a great deal of things about Gehrig as Cal Ripken, Jr. closed in on the consecutive games streak. We still hear a great deal of Babe Ruth as he was born here.

It's a great game with a great history. If only they would speed it up.

Gehrig is one of my heroes. Thanks for posting this.

Lou Gehrig Stats

http://www.lougehrig.com/about/stats.html

Lifetime .340 Batting Average
Five RBI shy of 2,000
493 Home Runs ... 7 away from 500!
2,721 Hits, from 8,001 at Bats.
Over 2,000 games played.

"He was a symbol of indestructibility - a Gibraltar in cleats."
Columnist Jim Murray said this.

Amazing Ballplayer and one of my favorites ...

Thanks for reminding us, Lynn. Gehrig was a beautiful athlete and--by all reports--a decent guy. Gehrig's demeanor as he made his public farewell seems to reinforce the knowledge that life is cruel and unfair rather sharply, but facing things with such true grace makes it bearable and memorable.

I assume PRIDE OF THE YANKEES is playing somewhere today!