Saturday marks 70 years since Lou Gehrig delivered what has become known as the "Luckiest Man" speech at Yankee Stadium between games of a doubleheader against the Washington Senators. It has been referred to as baseball's Gettysburg address. Dying of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclrerosis (ALS), better known now as Lou Gehrig's disease, one of the greatest players in the history of the game delivered unscripted remarks that seven decades later make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
To honor the anniversary of the event on Saturday, the seventh-inning stretch of every major league home game will include a reading of the speech. Also players will wear special uniform patches and first base will be specially marked. Commissioner Bud Selig calls Gehrig's speech "one of the defining moments in baseball history." There is no question about it.
It's interesting though to look back on that sweltering day in 1939 and what's remembered about it. Among those covering the event was, if not the greatest, certainly one of the greatest ever; "Washington Post" columnist Shirley Povich. His lead was, "I saw strong men weep this afternoon, expressionless umpires swallow hard, and emotion pump the hearts and glaze the eyes of 61,000 baseball fans in Yankee Stadium." It's a lead that certainly captures the mood of the moment, but in the 14 paragraphs that follow, there is no mention of the line that has stood the test of time. Believe it or not, the great Povich never included, "Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this Earth." Povich does refer to Gehrig calling himself "a lucky guy," but the legendary line never made it in to the legendary columnist's work.
Perhaps even more interesting is the speech almost never happend. According to a story written by Anthony McCarron in the "New York Daily News", Gehrig intially refused to speak after collecting gifts and trophies and listening to speeches made about him. Finally after being coaxed by Yankees manager Joe McCarthy, he shuffled to the microphone and delivered the famous words.
As he walked off the field, Gehrig was overheard saying to a teammate, "did my speech sound silly? Did it?"
Railings
What I thought would be a three of four hour project turned in to a full day of work with parts of three others. It was a nightmare, but the work is done. Check last week's blog for details on how the whole mess got started.
But just to bring you up to date, last Friday was unbelievably aggrivating. Trying to fit railings designed to be horizontal on descending steps is work better suited for famed TV carpenter Norm Abrams than radio Andy. Without the help of my mechanically-inclined 80-year-old father, I would have had to turn it over to a carpenter at a steep cost.
With some cutting, filing, scraping and carping at each other, Pollin and son produced railings. Next time you grab a railing to go up the steps, realize what had to be done to make that available to you.
Vacation
No blogging next week. I'm headed off to Portland, Oregon for the Pollin family reunion. There is a bit of a local sports tie in for you on this one.
It's being held at the Airport Sheraton, which is owned by Abe Pollin's brother Harold. You may recall what helped to widen the gulf between Abe and Michael Jordan was MJ's refusal to stay at that hotel with his Wizards teammates when he played here from 2001-2003. It apparently wasn't good enough for him and he even went so far as to pay for the entire traveling party, including broadcasters, to stay at another hotel. With MJ gone, the Wizards continue to stay there when they play the Trail Blazers.
Hey, if it's good enough for Gilbert Arenas, it's good enough for me. Happy July 4th.