It has been 76 years since the luckiest man on the face of the earth gave the greatest speech in sports history and bowed out of the game.
July 4, 1939 was Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at the Stadium. The Iron Horse was honored by becoming the first MLB player ever to have his number retired. Gehrig, in the midst of battling ALS, was too moved to address the fans. After encouragement from manager Joe McCarthy, he composed himself and delivered baseball’s Gettysburg Address:
Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got.