There was, to say the least, a lot happening in the world back in 1939. Europe was lurching towards the start of World War II. Here in the U.S., FDR’s New Deal was in full swing as the nation was beginning to emerge from the Great Depression.

But in the early summer of that year, the story dominating headlines of not just the sports pages, but also front pages, was that of baseball legend Lou Gehrig and his ALS diagnosis, which forced him to retire from the game he loved.

It has now been 85 years since Lou Gehrig stood on the field at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939, and delivered his “Luckiest Man” speech as part of Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day. The speech itself has become the stuff of baseball lore, even though no complete recording, on film or audio, remains.

Here are Gehrig’s complete remarks from that day:

"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.

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When you look around, wouldn’t you consider it a privilege to associate yourself with such 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."

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The “bad break” he referred to was his ALS diagnosis, the symptoms of which had begun to appear the year before. Many had noted how out-of-sorts he seemed during the second half of the 1938 season. “I don't know why, but I just couldn't get going again,” he said at the time. By the time he reported to spring training in 1939, his yet undiagnosed ALS had further weakened his muscles to the point where it was noticeable to everyone.

Still, he was in the midst of the longest consecutive games played streak in the history of baseball, and he was still Lou Gehrig—the famed “Iron Horse”—so he remained in the starting lineup for the first month of the 1939 season.

He hit just .143 over that first month, shockingly below his career average of .340. And his once legendary power was gone. He had just one RBI and no home runs through April 30. After an off day on May 1, Gehrig approached his manager, Joe McCarthy, before the game in Detroit and said simply, "I'm benching myself, Joe.”

He had appeared in 2,130 consecutive games, but would not appear in another.

Gehrig arrived at the Mayo Clinic on June 13, and after six days of extensive testing, doctors confirmed the diagnosis of ALS on June 19, 1939, his 36th birthday. About two weeks later, he took the field in his uniform for the last time on July 4^th, and delivered his now famous words during a ceremony between games of a doubleheader against the Washington Senators.

Gehrig would live less than two years after that afternoon, passing away at his home in the Bronx on June 2, 1941—16 years to the day from when he had replaced Wally Pipp at first base for the Yankees, beginning his streak of consecutive games played.

Gehrig’s legacy will forever live on in the hearts and minds of baseball fans everywhere.

In 2021, Major League Baseball announced June 2 would henceforth be known as Lou Gehrig Day, an annual event celebrating his life and helping to raise awareness of the disease that bore his name.

Learn more about Lou Gehrig and the history of ALS HERE.

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