1939: New York Yankee legend Lou Gehrig is diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the neuromuscular disease that will kill him and eventually bear his name.
ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, is incurable and ultimately fatal. It attacks the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, affecting the neurons that control voluntary muscle movement. As the disease progresses, paralysis sets in. Speech, swallowing and breathing are all impaired until life is no longer sustainable.
Because ALS affects only the motor neurons, the victim's mental capacity remains unaffected. The average survival time for someone diagnosed with ALS is between three and five years.
It is an irony that Gehrig was felled by this disease, which typically announces itself by the appearance of muscle weakness, especially in the hands and feet, and the gradual loss of muscle coordination. Gehrig was one of the best-fielding first basemen in baseball history, not to mention one of the game's most feared hitters. Playing on a team that featured Babe Ruth and later Joe DiMaggio, Gehrig took a back seat to nobody.
Gehrig, nicknamed the "Iron Horse" for his size and strength, appeared in 2,130 consecutive games (an endurance record that stood until Cal Ripken Jr. broke the mark in 1995) before the effects of the disease forced him to pull himself from the Yankees lineup on May 2, 1939. He was replaced at first base by Babe Dahlgren and never played in another game.
Gehrig died on June 2, 1941 at the age of 37.