Lou Gehrig’s Farewell Speech Essay

Seventy-three years ago, on July 4th, a man whose skillset lied on the baseball field, much rather than in speechmaking, delivered one of the most effective and inspiring speeches of all time. His name was Lou Gehrig, and in the matter of approximately two minutes, he managed to reflect not only his own thoughts of his disease and retirement from baseball, but also the thoughts and mindsets of his fans and the American people during the 1930s. Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech, famously including the aforementioned quote, drew upon many rhetorical strategies in order to convey themes and emotions that, especially during the time period, were extremely important to his fans and all people. Gehrig heavily utilized ethos and pathos to “argue” his point, and it was these two rhetorical appeals combined that allowed him to establish himself as a humble and thankful man who considered himself nothing but lucky to have been given the opportunities in life that he had been given.

     Lou Gehrig was one of the best baseball players to ever play the game. He was blessed with an amazing career playing for the New York Yankees setting many major league records such as 2,130 consecutive games from 1925 to 1939. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and on July 4, 1939 Gehrig stood before his devoted fans at Yankee Stadium and announced that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The man that was known to everyone as the “Pride of the Yankees”, on this very day, showed how courageous he was by giving a passionate speech to his fans that was filled with sarcasm, emotion, and pride.

During Gehrig’s baseball struggles he voluntarily took himself out of the starting lineup because he was in such a bad slump. The reason why Gehrig was doing so bad and why his body was failing him was because he had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). ALS is a disease that destroys nerve cells causing disabilities, it causes weakness in the limbs. This horrible disease also causes the difficulty to speak, move, breathe, and eat. These struggles cause full time assistance and usual doctor visits. After his retirement he came back to Yankee stadium for one last farewell. He had to walk away from the game that he grew to

Off the field Ruth reveled in his celebrity status, enjoying a wild and extravagant life. However, his high living and headstrong behavior eventually began to take a toll on his performance. He was still baseball’s premier player but fellow teammate and newcomer Lou Gehrig started to show signs of greatness

Lou Gehrig gave this speech as part of his retirement. He did not intend of making a speech at the time and he gave a very good speech. He presented himself as a relaxed, grateful, and a very humble human being. In this speech he is showing a side of him that is very optimistic. He shared certain details about his life, the good parts. He shared his gratitude toward his parents, his wife, and mother-in-law. He shared his humble background and praised the people he worked with. He chooses to dwell on the good parts of his life, not his hardships. Gehrig wanted people to know that he has had a good life and they should not feel sorry for him. He does not feel sorry for himself. He said,

The biggest part of Gehrig's speech is pathos, or the emotional part of his speech. In the first lines of the speech Gehrig grabs the audience's attention with emotional appeal by saying “Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I

Lou Gehrig's disease affected him in many ways. Lou Gehrig had a disease called ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) (Engdahl 12). ALS is a disease that destroys the nerves in the body so the host loses all bodily movement. ALS is also commonly known as Lou Gehrig's

Babe Ruth was the 20th century greatest baseball player in the world. Babe Ruth played for 2 teams and became a coach in his life. Babe Ruth was a professional baseball player. Babe Ruth got kicked out of the New York Yankees .Babe Ruth exceeded rookie limits in 1915 Babe Ruth left a mark on St. Pete spring training history. A Babe Ruth contract fetches 1.02 million at an auction Babe Ruth was the most sought and valuable baseball player. Babe Ruth was kicked out of the New York Yankees. Did you know that babe Ruth was a sad baseball coach ever since he got kicked out.

ALS Association. "ALS." ALS Affects. The ALS Association. 24 Oct. 2014. Web. 6 Nov. 2015.

Imagine playing 2,130 games in a row, while suffering 17 fractured hands(Steve Good,1). Lou Gehrig didn't need to imagine this because he experienced this first hand. The biography, A Quiet Hero, by Frank Graham, demonstrates the heart and passionate love Lou had for the game of baseball. Lou has an immense amount of positive character traits that are quite obvious to many. On the other hand, he also has some traits that can be taken and seen negatively. Lou was a great man who played professional baseball for seventeen seasons.

He uses logic when he states that he is “The luckiest man on the face of this earth” (Gehrig).This claim is backed up when he states that he knows this because he played baseball in the MLB for 17 years and he enjoyed the encouragement of the fans during this time. It emotionally grabbed people's attention not only because he is going to die but the speech was given in first person with words that help enhance the feelings he is trying to express. Ethically, Gehrig used his knowledge of the audience and made himself sound like he is one of them. He is trying to prove that he is just a normal guy who has to deal with hardship just like everyone else

In his speech, Lou Gehrig's demonstrates a persona of gratitude and humbleness which he develops by creating a personal connection with his audience. For example, when he speaks of his “tower of strength”(line 17) wife , most likely members of his audience can recall a family member who also demonstrate the same strong support. The effect Gehrig creates towards his audience is to remind them that even in the darkest moments, family is the best guidance anyone can follow. The effect can be seen through his strong diction when describing each of his family members who have supported him throughout his life. When it comes to seeing Gehrig’s humbleness, it what he does not mention that highlights this quality. A thought that comes to mind is

To begin with, Gehrig states that he is luckiest man alive even when encountering ALS. During his speech, Gehrig mentions many reasons that support the idea of how he is the luckiest man alive, such as that he has accomplished many things in his life, his supportive family, friends, teammates, fans, and coaches. Gehrig says how grateful he is for his strong wife and his parents, who sacrificed everything for him. Lou Gehrig had a positive, reflective, and brave tone while he gave out the speech to thousands of people. On the other hand, Morrie believes that he is lucky because he gets to say goodbye to the people he loves. Morrie is grateful for raising his own kids that turned out to be supportive, healthy, and great people in general. In

I listened to a similar speech given by Joe DiMaggio. His speech was also very short but he was another well known ball player. You made a good point about how their talents, personality's, and attitudes left them remembered. I think the emotion response that all these speeches present is what makes someone remember them. When you are famous and known, it makes it easier to connect with people who admire you. In my opinion these speeches are not the greatest but are notable due to who gave them and a little bit about what they are about in the instance with Babe Ruth and his throat cancer. Although they may be some of the most notable speeches in history I do not think they are some of the

But it seemed that another teammate always got more headline attention. First it was Babe Ruth, then later Joe DiMaggio. When historian Fred Lieb asked Gehrig about playing in Ruth's shadow, Gehrig's answer was true to form: "It's a pretty big shadow. It gives me lots of room to spread myself." He wasn't the only person that did not persevere."His mother, a strong woman who was intent on creating a better life for her son, worked constantly, cleaning houses and cooking meals for wealthy New Yorkers. His mother would never give up on giving her son to have a better life."Lou would also persevere when he was a child.As a boy, Lou was a fan of the Giants, and he attended games at the Polo Grounds whenever he could save up the 25 cents needed for a left-field bleacher seat. Years later, he recalled, “The Giants had been our favorites, and our quarters had all gone for a seat in the left-field bleachers, This showed how Lou Gehrig had never given up to get enough money to be able to watch a baseball