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MLB schedules first Lou Gehrig Day for June 2

AP photo by Tom Sande / New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who set an MLB record with his streak of 2,130 consecutive games played, smiles at a spring training game on March 16, 1935, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Gehrig died six years later of ALS, having abruptly retired from baseball two years earlier.
AP photo by Tom Sande / New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who set an MLB record with his streak of 2,130 consecutive games played, smiles at a spring training game on March 16, 1935, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Gehrig died six years later of ALS, having abruptly retired from baseball two years earlier. AP photo by Tom Sande / New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who set an MLB record with his streak of 2,130 consecutive games played, smiles at a spring training game on March 16, 1935, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Gehrig died six years later of ALS, having abruptly retired from baseball two years earlier.

By The Associated Press 3 min read

NEW YORK – Major League Baseball will hold its first Lou Gehrig Day on June 2, with the late New York Yankees legend joining Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente on the short list of players honored throughout the big leagues.

Each home team will have “4-ALS” logos in ballparks to mark Gehrig’s No. 4, and all players, managers and coaches will wear a Lou Gehrig Day patch on uniforms and may use red “4-ALS” wristbands. Teams that are off on June 2 will observe Lou Gehrig Day on June 3.

MLB said Thursday that the day will focus on finding cures and raising money for research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – or ALS, which is commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease – as well as the legacy of Gehrig and others who died of the progressive disease that attacks nerve cells controlling muscles throughout the body.

Oakland Athletics outfielder Stephen Piscotty, whose mother Gretchen died of ALS almost three years ago, said he’s thrilled MLB is honoring Gehrig and raising awareness for the disease.

“It’s something our organization has been pushing for, and we’re ecstatic that there’s finally going to be a day,” he said. “And hopefully this can spur further awareness and we can really catch some momentum here and really do some good.”

The A’s have hosted an ALS awareness night in recent seasons as a way to honor, among others, National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Catfish Hunter and Piscotty’s late mother. She died at age 55 in May 2018, about a year after being diagnosed.

June 2 will mark the 96th anniversary of when Gehrig started at first base for the Yankees in place of Wally Pipp, starting his record streak of 2,130 consecutive games played. The mark set by “The Iron Horse” stood until September 1995, when it was broken by Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr., who played 2,632 consecutive games in a streak that ended in 1998.

Gehrig died of ALS at age 37 on June 2, 1941. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1939, months after his abrupt retirement.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a release that Gehrig’s “humility and courage continue to inspire our society” and “the pressing need to find cures remains.”

MLB’s committee includes Piscotty; Colorado Rockies outfielder Sam Hillard, whose father has been diagnosed with ALS; and Milwaukee Brewers catcher Jacob Nottingham, whose family includes six people who died of ALS.

Teams and players helped raise millions of dollars in 2014’s ALS ice bucket challenge. The New York Yankees often mark the anniversary of Gehrig’s farewell speech, which he gave on July 4, 1939.