Rainy week delays Lou Gehrig Day event in New Orleans

A week of rain forced Louisiana’s American Legion Baseball programs to commemorate the inaugural Lou Gehrig Day a week late.

Proceeds from games on June 9 at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium in New Orleans will go toward raising awareness and fighting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

The event was originally scheduled for June 2, in conjunction with Major League Baseball’s inaugural Lou Gehrig Day events nationwide. Gehrig, the Hall of Fame first baseman for the New York Yankees, began his record streak of games played on June 2, 1925. He died of ALS on June 2, 1941, at the age of 37.

MLB this year began what is to be an annual tradition of observing Lou Gehrig Day on June 2 to raise awareness of ALS and those afflicted with the debilitating disease that affects the nervous system. Through its American Legion Baseball program, The American Legion is following suit with MLB as an opportunity to bring greater awareness to the connection of ALS and military service.

American Legion Resolution No. 6, adopted May 5, 2021, by the National Executive Committee, strongly encourages “every American Legion Baseball team to observe a moment of silence before their game(s) each year on June 2 in memory of Major League Baseball’s great Lou Gehrig and all veterans who suffer or have died from ALS.”