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Gehrigs Farewell:
It was Yankees versus Senators on July 4, 1939, a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. Most of the 61,808 on hand were there to honor Lou Gehrig in a ceremony between games.
As the crowd chanted "We want Lou" continiously, Lou broke out in tears and was overwhelmed so much that he asked Sid Mercer, the master of ceremonies to speak for him. As the crowd continued to plea for Lou to speak, he wiped the tears from his eyes, blew his nose, and on unsteady feet moved to the microphone to speak the speach he had written the previous night.
"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and I 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 have considered it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrows? 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 groundskeeper and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies, that's something. When you have a father and mother work all their lives so that 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 might have had a bad break, but I have an awful lot to live for."
You may have seen the movie, "The Pride of the Yankees", which is based on Gehrigs triump through the '39 season. He spent everyday on the bench and traveled with the Yankees on road trips. He sat through all four games of the 1939 World Series games.
Gehrig truly was the pride of the yankees, and is one of the greatest Yankees, not to mention one of the greatest ballplayers ever in baseballs' long histroy. Lou Gehrig died on June 3, 1941 at his home. He would have been 38 years old on June 19th.
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