Major League Baseball announced they will hold the inaugural ‘Lou Gehrig Day’ this season on Wednesday, June 2. The New York Yankees legend joins Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente as the only players whose legacies are to be celebrated annually.
MLB chose June 2 as the date to honor Gehrig because he became the Yankees’ starting first baseman that day in 1925, marking the start of his incredible streak of 2,130 consecutive games played.
Gehrig also passed away from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, on that day 16 years later.