Matt Loede
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Major League Baseball is set to honor one of the greatest players in the history of the game starting in 2021, as Thursday the league announced it will hold an annual “Lou Gehrig Day” each year on June 2nd.
Major League Baseball will use the yearly event to raise money to battle ALS and to educate fans about the disease while recognizing major advocacy groups such as the LG4Day committee.
Each June 2, teams around the league will wear a jersey patch honoring Gehrig that reads “4-ALS,” which will pay tribute to the No. 4 that Gehrig wore for the New York Yankees for 17 seasons, 1923-1939.
June 2nd was a big day for Gehrig, as June 2, 1925 was the first day of his then-MLB record 2,130 consecutive games played. He also died on June 2, 1941.
Gehrig remains one of the most feared hitters in the history of Major League Baseball. He still ranks 16th overall with a .340 batting average, third with a 1.079 OPS, and seventh with 1,995 RBIs to go with 493 career home runs.
Gehrig won six World Series titles with the Yankees, made seven All-Star Game appearances, was named the American League MVP twice and won the 1934 Triple Crown, leading the league with a .363 batting average with 49 home runs and 166 RBI.
The Yankees will be at home on June 2nd, playing the defending American League champion Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium with a 7:05pm first pitch.
But Lou Gehrig was WHITE… shit, as soon as MLB realizes this, it will be cancelled…
That’s what I was thinking. This won’t last long.
Phhht….he’ll be canceled before then.
July 4th, 1939 – Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day
Wiki:
The Yankees retired Gehrig’s uniform number “4”, making him the first player in Major League Baseball history to be accorded that honor. Gehrig was given many gifts, commemorative plaques, and trophies. Some came from VIPs; others came from the stadium’s groundskeepers and janitorial staff. Footage of the ceremonies shows Gehrig being handed various gifts, and immediately setting them down on the ground, because he no longer had the arm strength to hold them.
The Yankees gave him a silver trophy with all of their signatures engraved on it. Inscribed on the front was a special poem they asked to be written by The New York Times writer John Kieran. The inscription on the trophy presented to Gehrig from his Yankees teammates:
We’ve been to the wars together;
We took our foes as they came;
And always you were the leader,
And ever you played the game.
Idol of cheering millions,
Records are yours by sheaves;
Iron of frame they hailed you
Decked you with laurel leaves.
But higher than that we hold you,
We who have known you best;
Knowing the way you came through
Every human test.
Let this be a silent token
Of lasting Friendship’s gleam,
And all that we’ve left unspoken;
Your Pals of the Yankees Team.
The trophy became one of Gehrig’s most prized possessions. It is currently on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
This is a fantastic idea. Way to go MLB.