Julee Koplin

Jolynne Berrett
English 1010
March 2, 2015
Lou Gehrig
Farewell to Baseball Address

Who is Lou Gherig? Most people associate that name with the deadly disease ALS
(amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) which to this day still has no cure. What a lot of people dont
know about him is that he is a famous and highly regarded baseball player from the 1920s and
1930s that played for the New York Yankees. He was diagnosed with ALS on his 36th birthday
in 1939 after months of misdiagnosis during which ultimately was his last season of playing
baseball. He gave a speech on July 4th, 1939 as a Farewell to Baseball Address. He used
logos, ethos and pathos to convince his fans and admirers of how he is the luckiest man on the
face of the earth.
Lou Gehrig used logos in his speech by naming many different people in the realm of the
world of baseball that he worked with, like Jacob Ruppert, Ed Barrow, Miller Huggins, and Joe
McCarthy. He acknowledged the news that broke two weeks prior of his ALS diagnosis. He
spoke of a gift that a rival team sent him after his diagnosis. He also mentioned that he played in
many ballparks for 17 years and how great all the fans treated him.
Ethos is derived from Lou Gehrigs reputation, baseball records, and stats in the sport of
baseball. He broke multiple records in his time and still holds the record in MLB for 23 grand
slams in his career. He was the very first athlete to have his jersey number 4 retired in any

sport up until that point, now it is an honor given only to highly accomplished and decorated
athletes in each sport. He was the very first professional athlete to be put on a box of Wheaties
cereal box. He held the MLB record for most consecutive games played (2,130) until 1995 when
Cal Ripken broke the record after 56 years. His credibility is reported on many websites, books,
movies and articles to paint a picture of a man worthy of such adoration and inspiration.
Even though his speech was short he invoked such emotion using pathos throughout. He
speaks of the grand men that he played ball with and the kindness and encouragement from all
the fans he received. He talked about honor, which to him meant being able to do what he did
with the people he did it with. He talked about a wonderful mother-in-law that sided with him
in arguments with his wife. He spoke of what a blessing his parents were to him and the hard
work they put in to afford him the opportunities he had. He added that his wife was a tower of
strength to him He repeatedly stated that even though he had been given a bad break that he
was still a lucky man and had a lot to live for.
I am a true baseball fan and have sat through countless baseball games watching my 4
boys that played all the way from little league baseball to the collegiate level but I never realized
what a stellar player and man Lou Gherig was until reading this speech. His accomplishments
and records in baseball are undeniable but his spirit for life in the face of despair is more than
commendable. He used logos to give facts about his career, while stating names, teams and
awards to establish ethos. But by far the most notable is the way he spoke so eloquently about
his feelings for the game of baseball, the people involved in the sport and most importantly his
family. I could see each point of the rhetorical triangle being used in Lou Gehrigs farewell to
baseball speech.

Works Cited
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/lougehrigfarewelltobaseball.htm
http://www.lougehrig.com/index.html
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0311801/bio