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Those With ALS Should Be Honored Not Only on the Anniversary of the Passing of the Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig · OneLegUpAlex Media

• 0:01
  Here's your host, Alex Garrett. Well, it's June third, and you
• 0:12
  know, yesterday was lou Garegg's day and the Yankees win. I think the
• 0:16
  fitting thing about this road trip for the Yankees was that the captain not only
• 0:21
  dominated in his first trip back since basically snubbing the Giants and choosing the Yankees,
• 0:26
  but he made the final out on a day we honored another Yankee captain,
• 0:32
  lou Garrick. But the bookends of this road trip were immaculate. The
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  fact that the current captain caught the final out in a electric weekend by the
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  Bay, as well as the fact that they all wore the number four,
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  a original Yankee captain and lou Gereg. And yes it was lou Gereg's day,
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  and it honored ALS and those who suffer from it. And all of
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  us are working towards a cure, whether it's Project ALS or the ALS Association.
• 1:03
  So my view is today June third is let's not stop the conversation,
• 1:10
  right. I talk with Danny Boyce does Phasia Awareness Month. I feel like
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  once that goes away, they stop the conversation on that, and it's up
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  to Danny and I to pick it up. Well, the same thing goes
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  with ALS, right, It's an ongoing conversation, not just something we honor
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  every June second in honor of Lou Garrick number four, the Iron Horse.
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  So I implore you today on June third and beyond to actually donate to Project
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  ALS, the ALS Association, and work with others to find a cure.
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  Because the only way we can make a day like June second totally worth it
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  is not just by donating on that day, but by continuing to talk about
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  resources every day. We're going to commit ourselves to fighting ALS and find a
• 2:00
  cure for it while honoring those who suffer from it. Then why make it
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  just once a day, once a year. I remember ten years ago they
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  had the ALS Challenge and they had the ice Bucket Challenge, which did support
• 2:13
  the ALS Foundation and whatnot. But now every June second is the day to
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  honor and fight against ALS. But I think we can go beyond that this
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  June third. That's why I hope to have Sarah Langs. You know,
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  Sarah Langs has ALS. She was honored in Philly. I saw on MLB
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  network and she's just been a big part of the MOLB community. And I
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  saw our colleagues given a lot of love today on MLB Network, and I
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  figured, let me reach out to Sarah and see what we could do,
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  because she's become sort of a voice and an advocate for those with als,
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  and she deserves to be heard on this podcast, whether it's adapting or sports.
• 2:59
  Right. That's why we have both. That's why we have both.
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  But here's why I align with lou Gereg the most personally. We never let
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  our disability stop us. I aligned with lou Gereg the most because we always
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  strove and strive to be the best even while dealing with our conditions. Yes,
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  Gereg knew when to call it a day, if you will, after
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  his incredible iron Horse games played streak, but beyond that, he just knew
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  it was time. And I actually got the privilege to sit in the chair
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  that he sat in, I believe, before he did the Luckiest Man speech
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  at the Old Yankee State You how incredible is that it was his own corner
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  that Reyne Gron showed me. And I was at the honor of sitting in
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  that seat that lou Gegg owned in front of that pillar at the Old Yankee
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  Stadium. And when he when Ray also fort me a picture of a kid
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  on one leg shaking hands with lou gereg Boy, did that bring me back
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  to that eight year old me shaking hands, but also made me want to
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  buy a lou Geregg jersey even more and sort of embody that picture and won
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  because he strove for greatness on and off the field. He battled, and
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  he battled and battled als for as long as he could, and I believe
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  he played at least a year, maybe a little less with it. But
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  the guy truly wasn't iron ore horse, There's no doubt about it. And
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  so I think to honor him this month, this day after and by the
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  way, June second is the day he passed away from ALS. That is
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  why we honor lou Garrigg every June second. But I think it goes beyond
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  that. It goes beyond that. It's what his legacy now is is beyond
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  being a baseball player. It was to be a spokesperson for those fighting against
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  als and battling ALS. And so to honor his memory as that spokesperson,
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  we must continue to donate where we can, and I'll send you a couple
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  of resources to continue the conversation of ALS and how we can find a cure
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  together, so that Lou Garrig didn't just pass away on June second for that
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  day only, but for his memory, his legacy, and the legacy of
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  battling that he's left behind and fighting ALS that he's left behind for those in
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  today's world who continue to suffer from it. I hate that word suffering.
• 6:57
  That's why I use the word battle. But they suffer from it. But
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  we can show the world that nothing is suffered in vain, that these days
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  are not honored and put away till the next year, that there could be
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  a conversation continuing. That's the biggest thing is the conversation must continue after June
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  second, like it must continue for veterans, after veterans a Memorial Day in
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  July the fourth, and we're gonna honor a certain sector of the adaptability community.
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  Let's honor them right by continuing the conversation. So that's why this podcast
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  is dedicated to those with ALS, who are suffering from it, who are
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  battling it, who are overcoming it and striving to be their best, just
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  like Lou Gerrig and you know today you know ALS was often called loulu Garrigg's
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  disease. But when he knew he had it, he walked away and I'll
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  read you I I'll post this story by al Anthony Kastrovins about lou Garrigg's worst
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  full season was best and castraven says, back in nineteen thirty eight, it
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  would have been preposterous to propose that gereg was having his best season by the
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  way, his best season was hitting fewer than his season was hitting fewer than
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  thirty homers for the first time in a decade, and batting average dropped nearly
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  sixty points, tied for his career low in nineteen thirty eight. The prevailing
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  thought at the time was that the iron horse was running out of steam.
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  But knowing what we know now about both the science and the stats, his
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  nineteen thirty eight season takes on a much different dimension. Casrabins writes, Garrick
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  count only hit two ninety five with twenty nine homers, both of which were
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  disappointing drops from his career norms. But more importantly, he did it as
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  the ALS was continued was beginning to erode him from the inside. So indeed,
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  he did play on the onset of ALS. In nineteen thirty eight,
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  he would make that famous speech in nineteen thirty nine, the luckiest man in
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  the World on July fourth, and he would go on to live a couple
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  of years later, you know, for a couple more years. But for
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  a full history of why we celebrate lou Gerrit and why we honor him.
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  On June tewod I will post that link by mister Kastrovins and maybe tag him
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  on Twitter. Well, I'm sorry, X, but you know what I
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  mean. Because if we're gonna really truly honor and put the number four on
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  everybody's patches, everybody's jerseys, even the umpires yesterday, and we're gonna wear
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  the end als shirts, let's think about the origin of what lou gerg was
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  doing with the Als. He hit twenty nine homers as the disease was starting
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  to erode him. Think about that, as it was starting to erode his
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  body, he was still hitting two ninety five and hitting twenty nine homers.
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  If that's not an example of adaptability, you know, in one way or
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  another, and also also the fact that he was still hitting the ball.
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  That's not an example of not giving up. I don't know what it is.
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  As I researched this. You know, Gigg's playing streak games played streak
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  end in nineteen thirty nine at twenty one hundred and thirty consecutive games. Okay,
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  twenty one hundred and thirty games. That's about a year and maybe a
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  half of this disease crippling him from the inside, and he still managed to
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  play a consecutive streak of twenty one hundred thirty. If those numbers, If
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  those moments that you'll read in the links below, in the description below don't
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  fire you up to donate to ALS, to realize that people with ALS have
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  a chance, a good chance to keep living their best life. I don't
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  know what to tell you, So either go to project ALS or the ALS
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  Association and continue their good work as they work to find a cure. That's
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  right, a cure for als. Just because June and second has passed us
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  doesn't mean we can continue to honor the legacy of lou gereg a day later,
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  a week later, a month later, or the hard work of those
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  trying to combat and cure those with ALS. That's different now. On the
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  Alex Scarratt podcast Network, I just wanted to say we are going to continue
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  the conversation because it's only right for an only lou gig for all of those
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  who are overcoming als to this very day,