It was sixty-one years ago yesterday when Ira Riklis’ favorite baseball team, the New York Yankees, celebrated “Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day” at the old (though it was fairly new then) Yankee Stadium. Just two weeks earlier, the Yankee star had been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)—the condition that soon became known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease.”
But as fans like Ira Riklis know, when the Yankee legend spoke that day it wasn’t out of self pity or fear of what the disease would mean for his future. Instead he talked about his many blessings.
“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.
“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.”
Yesterday, the team partnered with the ALS Association Greater New York Chapter to sponsor a text Campaign to help Strike out ALS. Fans attending the game, watching on TV and listening on the radio texted to a special number to make $5 donations towards ALS research.