Just today 81 years ago the New York Yankees retired their first number from an immortal player and it was the 4th of the mythical Lou Gehrig, who retired due to an illness that quickly blinded his life. Last July 2 marked the 79th anniversary of his death, with only 37 years of age as the historic first baseman for the New York Yankees.
Gehrig managed not only to be 17 seasons in the Big Top with the same franchise and countless records along the way, but also due to his fame he managed to create awareness of the strange disease at that time that consumed him.
Forced to retire in 1939, Lou Gehrig stunned all the spectators when he decided on May 2 of that year to voluntarily withdraw from the line-up of a game where he had had a difficult start.
By then, he had played 2,130 consecutive games, a record that would last until Carl Ripken Jr., 56 years later.
Months later he would enter the Hall of Fame and in 1941 the tragedy would come. His No. 4 jersey became the first number retired by a team in MLB.
Time magazine in its June issue of that year showed the various tributes to one of the best in history in all stadiums in the league and dictated “the world of baseball mourned the death of Yankees first baseman Lou Gehriga to the 37-year-old who succumbed after two years to a strange and incurable disease known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
After being nicknamed Iron Horse for his durability at bat and consistency, by 1938 his quality of play had declined, he was slower, and he exhibited poor coordination.
Diagnosed by the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota after several days of medical exams, ALS for its acronym in English or ELA in Spanish, explained the weakness of his abilities but there was no treatment.
Gehrig is reported to have attempted to combat the disease by trying different methods including injecting or taking large amounts of vitamin E. By March 1940 the New York Times claimed that a cure had been found for “Lou Gehrig’s disease” and has been on it ever since. to nickname a diagnosis that unfortunately after decades of research continues to be devastating, afflicting around 5,600 people per year in the United States.
In 2014, ALS came back to prominence following the Ice Bucket Challenge, which raised millions for research, but there is still no cure. (GG) (Taken from www.milenio.com)