BIOGRAPHY - Page 5
"...the luckiest man on the face of the earth."
New York sportswriter Paul Gallico suggested the team have a recognition day to honor Gehrig on July 4, 1939. There were more than 62,000 fans in attendance as Gehrig stood on the field at Yankee Stadium with the 1927 and 1939 Yankees. He fought back tears of overwhelming emotion and began to speak his immortal words of thanks, calling himself "the luckiest man on the face of the earth." It was one of the most poignant and emotional moments in the history of American sports, and there was not a dry eye in Yankee Stadium. At the close of Gehrig's speech, Babe Ruth walked up, put his arm around his former teammate and spoke in his ear the first words they had shared since 1934.
Gehrig was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame that December. Although his career in baseball was over and his health was on a steady decline, Gehrig began work in the community. Mayor Fiorelli LaGuardia asked him to join the Parole Board, where he could help troubled youths. Gehrig was sworn in for a 10-year term in June 1940. His heath continued to fail, however, and he had to take a leave of absence. Eleanor, Gehrig's wife of eight years, remained by his side as his health deteriorated.
On June 2, 1941, Lou Gehrig succumbed to ALS and the country mourned. Eleanor received over 1,500 notes and telegrams of condolence at their home in Riverdale, New York. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt even sent her flowers. Gehrig was cremated and his ashes were buried at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.
Lou Gehrig is remembered as one of the most talented and phenomenal baseball players of all time. More than that, however, he is remembered for his kind heart and winning attitude. When actor Edward Hermann was hired to play Gehrig in a TV movie, at first he had trouble capturing the essence of the reserved, quiet Gehrig. "What made it so tough is I could find no 'key' to his character. There was no strangeness, nothing spectacular about him. As Eleanor Gehrig told me, he was just a square, honest guy."
Sportswriter Jim Murray once described the tall, strong Gehrig as a "Gibraltar in cleats." Gehrig's character lay somewhere between the average and the mythic. He was a dedicated athlete, a caring son and husband, an honest man and an American hero.
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