80 Years Ago Today, July 4, 1939 – Lou Gehrig says goodbye in an emotional speech of courage and strength

80 years ago today, Lou Gehrig, a man many consider one of the greatest baseball players, athletes and human beings ever said farewell to the fans of the New York Yankees, city of New York and to the game of baseball. Cut down in the prime of his life, he would pass away quietly due to ALS just two years later on June 2, 1941.

His act of courage and words of humble pride still hold an emotional connection to sports fans around the world today.

On the 80th anniversary of that memorable speech, take a moment to listen to his words one more time and find solace in the inner strength and courage he found within himself as he took on the most difficult opponent of his life.

Complete Speech – July 4, 1939

“For the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

“When you look around, wouldn’t you consider it a privilege to associate yourself with such a fine looking men as they’re standing in uniform in this ballpark today? Sure, I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I’m lucky.

“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 might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for. Thank you.”