MLB Celebrates the Inaugural Lou Gehrig Day Today
It’s been 80 years to the day that MLB lost a legend of the game. Lou Gehrig died on June 2, 1941 at the young age of 37 after a 2-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It was also just 2 years after he was forced to walk away from the game of baseball with a historic career.
Gehrig won just about every award a big leaguer could ever hope for. The Yankees first baseman took home 2 MVP awards, a Triple Crown, a batting title, 6 World Series championships, and was eventually voted to the MLB Hall of Fame.
Today will mark the very first Lou Gehrig Day to be celebrated across MLB. It’s held on June 2nd to represent the day he became the Yankees’ first baseman in 1925 and the day he passed away 16 short years later.
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Each team across MLB playing at home will display the 4-ALS logo in their ballparks to commemorate Gehrig’s jersey number. Players and coaches will also wear a Lou Gehrig Day and wristbands that can be worn in-game.
MLB will also feature former New Orleans Saints safety Steve Gleason reciting part of Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man Alive” speech. Gleason lost his ability to speak due to ALS and will recite the speech with the help of Project Euphonia, a Google Research project.
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