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My Viewing of The Pride of the Yankees!

“Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” – Memorable line from Lou Gehrig’s Luckiest Man Speech, July 4, 1939.

Since I’m homebound like just about everybody else, I thought this would be a good time to catch up on a few things on my “to do” list. One item high on the list was my intention to finally watch The Pride of the Yankees. Some of you may find it hard to believe, but it’s a movie I’ve never seen.

I have to say I enjoyed the movie, even if it was a little hokey and overdone at times. Gary Cooper may have been a bit too old for the role, especially the scenes of the young Lou, but that’s a minor quibble. I thought the Babe and Bill Dickey actually showed themselves surprisingly well. Overall it was pretty good, especially for a 1942 baseball movie.

A few years ago I decided to do something that only a lifelong history baseball fan would do: I committed to memory Lou Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” speech. And to this day I can still recite it by heart. I do it every few days just to keep it fresh in my mind. It also serves a great purpose when I can’t get to sleep. Some of you may count sheep. I recite to myself the “Luckiest Man speech”!

So I was anxious to see how the movie dealt with one of the most famous moments in baseball history. I thought it was pretty well done, but I did notice that the movie took considerable liberty with the speech Gehrig actually delivered. Poetic license, maybe? I’m sure that was a decision the screenwriters and the director made to ensure maximum emotional effect. I’d have to say it worked pretty well. After all, who besides me would have noticed anyway?

For those of you who haven’t seen the movie (I can’t be the only one!), I’ve included a short clip from the movie which juxtaposes actual footage with footage from the movie. Also, I’ve included below a few words about “Lou Gehrig Day,” July 4, 1939 from one of my previous posts. I’ve also included the actual words Lou spoke on that sad but historic day:

Lou Gehrig Day, July 4, 1939

Lou Gehrig was never known for his eloquence. A magnificent hitter? For sure. Yet in fewer than 300 words, the ailing Iron Horse somehow managed to deliver one of the most eloquent and memorable speeches in American culture. It was composed the night before by Lou with help from his wife, Eleanor.

There were 61,808 fans in attendance that day, including New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Postmaster General James Farley, and teammates from the 1927 Yankees. There is no known intact film of Gehrig’s speech; only a small snippet of the newsreel footage. So in order to fully appreciate the impact of this beautiful oration, I thought it would be a good idea to post the entire text.

Try to envision the scene as an eerie silence descended upon Yankee stadium and a crestfallen Gehrig, overcome with emotion himself, slowly stepped up to the microphone with help from his manager, Joe McCarthy. Somehow, amidst all the emotion of the day, he was able to pull it off. By the time he was finished, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Here’s the complete text of Lou’s famous speech:

Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

When you look around, wouldn’t you consider it a privilege to associate yourself with such fine looking men as are standing in uniform in this ballpark today? 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 the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy?

Sure, I’m lucky. When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends 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 with her own daughter—that’s something.

When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body—it’s a 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’ve got an awful lot to live for. Thank you.

After Gehrig delivered the speech, the stunned crowd stood and applauded for almost two minutes. Lou was visibly shaken as he stepped away from the microphone and wiped tears away from his eyes as Babe Ruth came over and hugged him. The New York Times called it “One of the most touching scenes ever witnessed on a ball field.” It was said that even hard-boiled reporters had to “swallow hard.”

Here’s a beautiful description of the occasion written by Richard Sandomir found on the “Sports On Earth” web site:

No longer a magnificent ballplayer, he was a dying young man, grateful for his life, not complaining about his limited future. He gave them the essential Gehrig: no different than the decent man he had always been, but now faced with altered circumstances. He did not sound like a professional speaker. He lacked a baritone like Gary Cooper, the actor who played him in The Pride of the Yankees, which made Gehrig’s speech so much more effective. Gehrig simultaneously became a symbol of courage and the soul of the Yankees’ cold-as-steel empire. Had he died in 1971, not 1941, he would have been recalled for his statistics and humility. But by offering nothing but gratitude, for a life that would end two years later, days before his 38th birthday, he was canonized a sports saint.

Very well said…and a wonderful tribute to a great ballplayer and a great man.

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Gary Livacari 

Photo Credits: Featured photo colorized by Don Stokes; All others from Google search

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