To baseball fans and non-fans alike, the name Lou Gehrig has taken on a meaning the relatively young NY Yankees star could not have imagined when he died in 1941, stricken by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Such was the following of the self-effacing baseball hero that from that point forward, the relatively obscure illness became known as "Lou Gehrig’s Disease". And so it remains today.

Henry Louis Gehrig was born in New York City in 1903. The only surviving child of poor immigrant parents, Lou Gehrig struggled to balance school and baseball; eventually baseball won. After a brief stint in the minors, Gehrig was signed by the Yankees in 1925. Starting in 1926, he embarked on a 13-year stretch of batting over .300. His baseball career reached a pinnacle in 1934, when Gehrig batted .363, with 210 hits, 49 homeruns and 165 RBI’s.

But by 1938, Gehrig’s performance slumped. He lost strength and coordination. Something was terribly wrong.

In 1939, Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with ALS. Gracious and grateful to his fans for their support during his career and subsequent illness, he declined rapidly. Two years later, Lou Gehrig died of the dread disease that would thereafter bear his name.