Today marks an important date in history for baseball fans. No, it is nowhere near as important as our Independence, but it is a milestone. I have watched the grainy footage as well as the Gary Cooper version. Today is the 75th Anniversary of Lou Gehrig's farewell address to baseball, the Yankees and the fans.
I am going to paste the words of this address in this post, it is taken from the web site: http://www.lougehrig.com/
"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and 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 consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? 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 groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies - that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter - that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so 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 been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for."
- Lou Gehrig
This is one of the great speeches I have heard, the thing amazed me the most, as 60,000 fans roared their approval, Lou Gehrig walked off the field the last time, he didn't look back. Sadly, Lou Gehrig died just under 23 months after giving this speech.
There is a great lesson to be learned, acknowledge those around you much more often than you acknowledge yourself and what ails you. Be positive, life is much too short to do otherwise, and be happy for what you have been given. Don't dwell too much in the negative, it is okay to acknowledge it's existence, but don't dwell there!
Have a great 4th of July!
One of my fields of dreams
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