The world of sports is often filled with stories that will either inspire you or bring a few tears to your eyes. What better way to support this claim than by talking about Lou Gehrig, the baseball legend, who had a movie made about his life. The movie in question is The Pride of the Yankees, starring Gary Cooper as the sportsman, along with his Yankee teammates, Babe Ruth, Bob Meusel, and others.
Lou Gehrig began his New York Yankees journey in 1923 and quickly became one of the most respected players in the game. One of the 19 players to hit four home runs in a single game, he had many feats to his name. Unfortunately, it was all short-lived as he passed away in 1941 after being diagnosed with ALS.
Lou Gehrig – the true pride of the New York Yankees
The baseball player for the New York Yankees (1923-39) earned himself the nickname, The Iron Horse, thanks to his incredible talent in the sport. Throughout his career, Lou Gehrig became a 7-time All-Star, a 6-time World Series Champion, and a 2-time American League MVP, among other titles. Needless to say, his name will always be associated with the sport.
Unfortunately, his career began to decline in the late ’30s, as he was struggling through an illness that was difficult to diagnose at first. However, it was later understood that Gehrig had been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or you may know it better as ALS.
ALS is a rare, progressive neurological disorder that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, particularly the motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. The disease weakens muscles, making it difficult to move, speak, swallow, and even breathe. Since it is extremely rare, there is no cure yet, but there are treatments that may increase life expectancy and improve the quality of life. Grey’s Anatomy actor Eric Dane was recently diagnosed with ALS.
The diagnosis, which was confirmed on June 19, 1939, came as a hard blow to both him and those who loved him. His paralysis increased at a rapid pace; he developed difficulty in swallowing and speaking, and was given a life expectancy of a mere three years.
Two days after the diagnosis was made public, the Yankees announced Gehrig’s retirement and hosted a farewell ceremony. The New York Times described it as “colorful and dramatic a pageant as ever was enacted on a baseball field [as] 61,808 fans thundered a hail and farewell.”
Just two days before his 38th birthday, Gehrig succumbed to the illness on June 02, 1941, and ALS went on to be nicknamed the Lou Gehrig Disease in his honor.
As for his wife, Eleonor, she never remarried after his death, writing in her memoir, My Luke and I, that she wouldn’t trade two minutes of her time with her deceased husband for decades with another (via SABR).
Babe Ruth’s The Pride of the Yankees – a tribute to Lou Gehrig
The 1942 sports drama is titled The Pride of the Yankees – The Life of Lou Gehrig. While at first glance it seems to be more of a biopic of the baseball star, it really is a homage to the life he lived. You can now stream the movie for free as it has finally been made available on the Roku Channel on Hoopla, Kanopy, and Pluto TV.
From his days at Columbia University to his time with the New York Yankees, and finally to his death, the movie covers some of the major events in Gehrig’s legendary life.
While Gary Cooper plays the role of Gehrig in the sports drama, the baseballer’s actual teammates, Babe Ruth, Bob Meusel, Mark Koenig, and Bill Dickey, play themselves. Last year, The Pride of the Yankees was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, for all the right reasons.
The film that shoots an arrow straight to your heart also features Gehrig’s iconic speech, which he once delivered to a sold-out crowd at Yankee Stadium on July 04, 1939.
In his speech, he talked about being the “luckiest man on the face of the earth” despite being dealt a bad hand. In his words,
Fans, for the past two weeks, you’ve been reading about a bad break. Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth…So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for. — Thank you.
A version of this speech was shown in the movie, which was voted as one of the 100 greatest movie quotes by the American Film Institute.
Stream The Pride of the Yankees on Roku Channel on Hoopla, Kanopy, and on Pluto TV.
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