After posting this earlier today, I went through and read the entire speech from Lou Gehrig. I’ve always been fascinated by the story of Gehrig. When I was a kid, my dad went to the local library and checked out the movie, The Pride of the Yankees.

Ever since watching Gary Cooper play the part of Gehrig, I was hooked. It’ easily one of my favorite sports movies of all time. Every time it’s on the television, I have to stop and watch it. In his career, he broke several records including the most grand slams (23) and most consecutive games played (2,130). Both of those records have been broken since Gehrig’s retirement.

He also played on six world champion teams. He was a triple crown winner, an AL Most Valuable Player twice and an All-Star seven consecutive times. His career batting average was .340 and he hit 493 home runs. In 1939, Gehrig was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and he was the first MLB player to have his jersey number (4) retired by a team.

All of those accomplishments and nothing was mentioned about any of that in that famous July 4th speech. Here’s the entire speech:

“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 may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for.”

Source

It’s amazing to think that, even with all his accomplishments, it was the relationships and the people who surrounded him that caused him to realize how lucky he was in life.