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11 unusual facts about Lou Gehrig


ALS Society of Canada

ALS Canada, founded in 1977, is a national voluntary health organization dedicated to the fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and to providing support for those living with ALS.

Bernard M. Shanley

Shanley was a college roommate, fraternity brother, and baseball teammate of Lou Gehrig at Columbia University during the early 1920s.

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve

The duck-hunting club catered to politicians and celebrities such as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

Eiji Sawamura

On November 20, 1934, the 17-year-old Sawamura faced a team of visiting all-star players from Major League Baseball, including Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, and Charlie Gehringer.

Go Off!

About two years after the album's release, guitarist Jason Becker was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (abbreviated ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease), rendering him paralyzed and completely unable to play to this day.

Larry Uteck

It was one of the few honours he would accept following the diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's disease) in 1997.

Meeker, Oklahoma

In six career Series starts, he was 4-2 with 32 strikeouts and a low 1.79 earned run average, and is still remembered for striking out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Joe Cronin in their consecutive at-bats in the 1934 All-Star Game.

Meiji Jingu Stadium

In 1934, Ruth joined several other famous baseball players from the U.S., such as Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx, in a 22-game tour of Japan.

Pat Olsen

He was signed to the New York Yankees organization and was a spring training roommate of Lou Gehrig, but he never made the Yankees major league roster.

Polyunsaturated fat

Dietary intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids has been shown in preliminary studies to decrease the risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's Disease).

The Marine Biologist

Jerry calls his favorite shirt "the iron man," referring to baseball player Lou Gehrig who was known as the "Iron Man" during his playing days for his consecutive game streak.


1933 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Hallahan was chased from the game after walking Lou Gehrig immediately afterward, and was replaced by Lon Warneke.

Al Simmons

Simmons had another great season, winning his 2nd batting title hitting .390 with 22 home runs, 128 RBI, 100 runs scored, 200 hits, 37 doubles, 13 triples and slugged .641 while playing in only 128 games, finishing 3rd in AL MVP voting behind the MVP, his teammate pitcher Lefty Grove and the Yankees' Lou Gehrig.

Alfred Lilienthal

As a schoolboy he counted among his friends the future novelist and playwright Herman Wouk, with whom he spent many hours debating the virtues of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

Avon Williams

In the late 1980s Williams began to be debilitated by the progressive effects of ALS ("Lou Gehrig's disease") and began to require the services of a chauffeur/attendant.

Brooklyn Bushwicks

All the famous players of the time came to play exhibitions at Dexter Park including Dizzy Dean, Hank Greenberg, Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Joe Medwick.

East Side, West Side: Tales of New York Sporting Life 1910–1960

Among the personalities the book talks about in depth are Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe Louis, Primo Carnera, Tony Canzoneri, Sugar Ray Robinson, Casey Stengel, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Stillman, Jacob Ruppert and more.

Eddie Zosky

So anticipated was Zosky's debut that Toronto Star writer Dave Perkins compared Zosky's debut to Lou Gehrig in 1925, asking "Did Manuel Lee just become Manuel Pipp?" (in reference to Gehrig usurping Wally Pipp's first base position that season).

Glenn B. Hamm

Hamm taught art at Carlow College from 1963 to 1964, West Virginia University from 1965 to 1969 and Virginia Commonwealth University until his death from Lou Gehrig's Disease in 1980.

Kelly Automotive Park

Notable players such as Lou Gehrig, Joe Dimaggio, and Whitey Ford played at the stadium while the Yankees farm team (Butler Yankees) was in Butler.

Morgan G. Bulkeley Stadium

Lou Gehrig, Jim Thorpe, Leo Durocher, Hank Greenberg, Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain all played for these teams at one point in their careers.

Right to Die?

Right to Die? is a documentary aired on Sky Real Lives in December 2008 (rebroadcast on PBS on 2 March 2010 as "The Suicide Tourist") about the assisted suicide of Craig Colby Ewert (1947–2006), a 59-year-old retired university professor who suffered from Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Ron Snidow

In 2008, Snidow was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, which he died from a year later on May 17, 2009, while on a vacation cruise off the coast of Italy on the island of Elba.