The life of Lou Gehrig: The Iron Horse – Part 2
His performance in the 1938 season was deteriorating, and although his performance in the second half of the season was comparatively better, it was nowhere near what he had previously performed. He himself said that he tried mid-season but for some reason
couldn’t get going again. His final statistics were above average for the 1938 season with a .294 batting average, 170 hits, .523 slugging average and 170 hits accompanied by 689 plate appearances. Still they were significantly lesser than his averages from
his 1937 season in which he batted a .351 average and a slugging percentage of .643.
He was struggling in 1939, because it was becoming obvious that he no longer had his once-formidable power. His running was affected and he even collapsed once during spring training. He had not managed a single home-run by the end of the 1939 spring training
and his coordination and speed deteriorated steadily and significantly.
When he hit the worst statistic of his career which was a .143 batting average, people started noticing that something was wrong. Many people speculated that there must be something physically wrong with him, as his numbers began to dwindle.
When everyone was getting ready for the Yankees game against the Tigers in Detroit, he was on the bench and he was off the lineup card which shocked the umpires, Yankees, Tigers as well as the thousands of fans who witnesses Lou himself finish his fourteen
year streak. Gehrig remained as the team captain for the rest of the season but he never played a game again.
He was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota on his 36th birthday. The prognosis wasn’t too promising; rapidly increasing paralysis was anticipated along with difficulty in communication and swallowing.
The worst blow was when the news of a maximum three years life expectancy.
July 4, 1939 was proclaimed as Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day and the Yankees announced his retirement that day. More than 61,808 fans came to bid him farewell and members of the 1927 Yankees team attended the ceremony appreciating how for generations to come,
players and fans alike would look upon his record in hopes of achieving it. He was called ‘the greatest prototype of good sportsmanship and citizenship’ by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. His manager Joe McCarthy was particularly emotional. He tearfully told Gehrig
in front of everyone that it was the saddest day when he was told by Gehrig that he would not be able to play ball anymore.
When Gehrig infamously called himself ‘the luckiest man in the world’ after all that he had been through, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Babe Ruth hugged Gehrig to show his love and appreciation for the tremendous team-mate
that he had.
He was the second youngest player to be unanimously elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum and the first ever to be given this honour in the player’s lifetime. Lou Gehrig died on June 2, 1941 as a man loved, cherished, honoured and idolised
by countless people around the world not just for being a tremendous ballplayer, but for being a kind person with all the humility and grace of a simple guy who knew how to play the sport.
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