Major League Baseball held its inaugural Lou Gehrig Day yesterday across the U.S. and Canada.
Eighty-two years after his diagnosis and 80 years after his death, Gehrig has been the face of ALS.
The ALS community banded together, via the Lou Gehrig Day Committee, to compel the MLB and its 30 clubs to create this event and host an Ice Bucket Challenge-like challenge to raise awareness and research about the still-incurable disease that weakens muscles and impacts physical function.
Yesterdays’ date is also significant because it is the date in 1925 that Gehrig became the Yankees’ starting first baseman and the date in 1941 that he passed away at the age of 37.
Every team with a home game last night displayed “4-ALS” logos in their ballpark, commemorating Gehrig’s jersey number on wristbands and uniforms teams that play tonight will also observe Lou Gehrig Day.
