Eventually, the muscles no longer receive signals from the brain, and they stop moving altogether. That said, doctors have developed medicines and techniques to help slow the progress and lessen the symptoms. During the season, Gehrig began showing signs of ALS as a year-old. The changes first became noticeable about halfway through the season.
At that point, Gehrig found himself feeling tired and somewhat weaker than usual. He tallied hits , 29 home runs, and runs batted in that year.
Perhaps tellingly, however, Gehrig batted only. The change proved to be no small matter. It set in motion a streak in which Gehrig established a Major League Baseball record by playing in 2, consecutive games. Beyond his consistent presence, however, Gehrig also became an offensive force in an already potent lineup. He and his teammate Babe Ruth formed an unmatched power-hitting tandem.
Quiet and unassuming, Gehrig struggled to make friends with many of his colorful and spotlight-hungry Yankee teammates, especially Ruth. But his hardworking nature and ability to play through incredible pain certainly earned their respect, and earned him the nickname "The Iron Horse. His Hall of Fame career saw him score runs and knock in at least that many in 13 consecutive seasons.
In , he set an American League record by clubbing RBIs, and in , he became the third player to hit four home runs in a single game it's only been done 16 times ever. Two years later, he took home baseball's coveted Triple Crown by leading the league in home runs 49 , average.
In the World Series, Gehrig was equally impressive, batting. In the aging Gehrig turned in his first subpar season. His hard-charging career seemed to have caught up with him as his body started to fail him. But Gehrig, who was having trouble with things as simple as tying his shoelaces, feared he might be facing something more than just the downslide of a long baseball career.
In , after getting off to a horrid start to the baseball season, Gehrig checked himself into the Mayo Clinic, where after a series of tests, doctors informed him that he was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ALS , a devastating disease that strips nerve cells of their ability to interact with the body's muscles.
His diagnosis with the disease helped put the spotlight on the condition, and in the years since Gehrig's passing, it has come to be known popularly as "Lou Gehrig's disease. On May 2, , Gehrig's ironman streak came to an end when he voluntarily took himself out of the lineup. Not long after, Gehrig retired from baseball. He returned to Yankee Stadium on July 4 of that year so that the team could hold a day in his honor. Standing on the field where he'd made so many memories and wearing his old uniform, Gehrig said goodbye to his fans with a short, tearful speech to the crowded ballpark.
The progressive, degenerative disease affects motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord that control muscle movement. It impacts speech, as well as the ability to eat, move and breathe. Now, 80 years later, Major League Baseball is commemorating Lou Gehrig Day for the first time on June 2: the day Gehrig became a Yankees' regular in , and the day he died in at just 37 years old.
The "Iron Horse". Read More. Gehrig was an unlikely American hero. The son of poor immigrant parents, he was born in New York in It was at Columbia University in that Gehrig first discovered baseball.
Spotted by a talent scout, he was later signed to the Yankees in At a time when the entire country was struggling through the Great Depression, Eig says Gehrig became "a symbol of endurance.
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