Today, I consider myself the luckiest person I've ever had in my life.

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

Welcome to another episode of 1,001 Heroes, Legends, Histories and Mysteries. This one titled The Pride of the Yankees

is from our Legends series and tells the story of one of the greatest baseball players that ever took the field.

Lou Gehrig. Lou Gehrig, who played for the Yankees for 17 years until his career was tragically cut short by a neuromuscular disease called ALS,

was nicknamed the Iron Horse due to his endurance and strength, which allowed him to play in 2,130 consecutive games,

despite numerous fractures, muscle spasms, knockdowns and knockouts at the plate.

His lifetime batting average was 340, 15th highest of all time, and his on base percentage was an astounding 441 lifetime.

One of the best movies I've ever seen and one of the few I have watched more than twice is The Pride of the Yankees starring Gary Cooper.

It puts a lump in my throat every time I watch it.

It details Gehrig's life growing up in a poor German immigrant family in New York, his rise to baseball stardom and how that affected his wife and family,

and his fight against a crippling disease that ended his ability to play earlier in his career than he had hoped.

Most of all, the movie portrays Lou Gehrig as he was, a humble, quiet man who loved his family and loved baseball, and he had a sense of humor.

When his story in Fred Leib asked him what it's like playing in Babe Ruth's shadow, Gehrig quipped,

it's a pretty big shadow, it gives me lots of room to spread myself.

Thank you for joining us.

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This is your host and storyteller, John Haggadorn, and this is our story.

Gehrig was born at 309 East 94th Street in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan, weighing almost 14 pounds at birth.

He was the second child out of four to German immigrants. His father Heinrich was a sheet metal worker by trade, but frequently unemployed due to alcohol, and his mother Christina was a maid.

The main breadwinner and disciplinarian in the family.

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