Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.

That I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for.

Thank you.

That scene, those words, still elicit chills. Even now, more than 80 years after they first echoed from the infield of Yankee Stadium. Today, finally,

Garrig's fight against ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's disease, is being recognized by MLB like never before,

and Jeff Passen brings us the story of the man who made it his personal mission to make Lou Gehrig Day a reality, a mission that

even this terrible illness couldn't stop. I'm Pablo Torre. It's Wednesday, June 2nd. This is ESPN

Daily, presented by UKG. Our purpose is people.

Jeff Passon, thanks for joining me. Well, thank you for having me, Pablo.

So today is a special day in Major League Baseball, Jeff. This is a sport that has league-wide

celebrations for Jackie Robinson

and Roberto Clemente. And now it adds Luke Garrig to that extremely selective list.

And you have this incredible story you've reported on how all of this came to pass behind the

scenes. But before we even get there, because Garrig is remembered for so much beyond

the game, I was wondering if you could just remind us who Lou Gehrig was as a ballplayer.

If Babe Ruth hadn't existed, Lou Gehrig would have been Babe Ruth.

He was your imposing,

incredible, left-handed, slugging New York Yankee.

A guy who was mashing 40 home runs a year and driving in easily 150 runs and batting in the 370s

and doing all of this with grace and class and intelligence and just this Savoy affair that kind of was in contrast to who Babe Ruth was.

Babe Ruth was the man about town, the drinker. Lou Gehrig was kind of his classy counterpoint

and somebody who is looked back upon not just how he lived,

...