On July 4, 1939, Lou Gehrig stepped onto a baseball diamond in Yankees garb for the final time, to say farewell.
Gehrig had been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in June and immediately retired from baseball, but made one final appearance at Yankee Stadium between games of a doubleheader on what the Yankees had deemed “Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day.” That day, he gave one of the greatest inspirational speeches in America’s young history.
Mick Gillispie told the story of the day during the sixth inning of Tennessee’s game with the Birmingham Barons on Friday.
Andrew Green
James Rowe
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