野球魂~白日夢

今年恰逢 Lou Gehrig 告別演說的70週年,MLB官網上有一系列的新聞,洋基球場也有一些紀念的儀式

Lou Gehrig 可以說是洋基的榮耀,棒球界不朽的傳奇,他的生涯數據非常的驚人

    G       AB    R        H   2B   3B  HR   GS  RBI   BB   AVG  OBP  SLG

 2164   8001 1888  2721 534 163 493  23 1995 1508 .340 .447 .632

但很不幸在棒球生涯如日中天時,他卻得了Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS),中文稱為肌萎縮性脊髓側索硬化症

如果不是這個病的話, 他的紀錄會更驚人

從1925年5月2日開始的14年間 連續出賽2130場,直到1939年4月30日因為身體狀況不佳才中斷

這個紀錄直到50年後才被巴爾的摩金鶯隊的Cal Ripken Jr.給打破

在1939年6月21日退休,４號球衣也退休,同年獲選入HOF,最後一次公開露面是在1939年7月4日,這天稱為Gehrig　Day

以下是演講內容:

 "Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break
    I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the
    earth. I have been in ballpark for 17 years and have never received
    anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans. Look at these
    grand man. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his creer
    just to associate with them for even one day?

    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 nine years with that outstanding leader, the smart
    student of psychology -- the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarty?

    Sure, I'm lucky. When the New York Giants, a team you would give your
    right arm to beat, and vice versa, send 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 against her own daughter -- that's something! When you have a
    father and mother who work all their lives so that you can have an
    education and build your body -- that's 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 have
    an awful lot to live for! Thank you."

這可以說是運動史上最感人的演說之一

乍看之下好像沒什麼特別,但是如果知道他是在人生高峰中得到罕疾,而不得不離開他最愛的棒球

卻仍能在演說中流露出積極與感恩(說自己是The Luckiest Man)

所以這也是此演講為人所稱頌的原因

雖然令人悲傷,但也看出了他對於棒球的熱愛以及對生命逆境的勇氣~