Saturday, June 02, 2007
This Day in American History
On this day in 1941, Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse of the Yankees, died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis which is more widely known now in America as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Until Cal Ripken beat it, Gehrig held the record for most consecutive games played. From what little I know, he seemed like a quite decent fellow. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a degenerative nerve disease with no known cause or cure. Unlike dementia, the memories, personality and cognitive abilities survive but the ability to control muscles goes away, the muscles atrophy and eventually the sufferer dies from an inability to breath. Sounds like a tough way to go, to me. The photo is of Gehrig and Babe Ruth on the day Gehrig retired in 1939 and called himself, inexplicably, the luckiest man alive.
Labels: Lou Gehrig
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 6:51 AM 
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