Sarah Langs 'beyond grateful' for Yankees helping to raise ALS awareness on anniversary of Lou Gehrig's 'Luckiest Man' speech

David Suggs

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Sarah Langs 'beyond grateful' for Yankees helping to raise ALS awareness on anniversary of Lou Gehrig's 'Luckiest Man' speech image

MLB reporter and producer Sarah Langs expressed her gratitude to the Yankees for honoring her and six other women battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, at Yankee Stadium on the 84th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's famed "Luckiest Man" speech.

Langs, one of MLB's most popular media personalities, announced in 2021 that she was living with the disease. She has since become one of most vocal advocates for those living with ALS, also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease. All the while, she has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the media world and has gained a legion of admirers for her insights into a sport she has loved since childhood.

"I will never be able to find the proper words to thank the Yankees for this incredible day," Langs said in a Twitter post Tuesday night.

The Bronx Bombers brought Langs and her compatriots onto the field prior the team's Independence Day game vs. the Orioles. They posed for photos and were greeted by the New York crowd.

As Langs was speaking to the media before the game, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole surprised her by offering her parents the opportunity to throw out the first pitch. 

Who is Sarah Langs?

A New York native who used the game to bond with her baseball-crazed parents, Langs is among the most knowledgeable people in the industry. But it's her commitment to the sport throughout her fight with ALS that has made her a hero in the eyes of many.

"Her passion and her love for the game [is] infectious," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

Langs and the other women watched as the Yankees played the start of Gehrig's famous speech — in which Gehrig said he was the "luckiest man on the face of the earth." The women and several Yankees then took turns reading segments of Gehrig's speech before being receiving rousing applause.

It was one of several gestures the organization made as part of its HOPE Week — Help Others Persevere & Excel — campaign. Cole handed Langs a "Baseball is the Best" shirt signed by every member of the roster. "Baseball is the Best" is Langs' catchphrase.

A second T-shirt will be auctioned off, with the proceeds going to Project ALS, one of the nation's leading ALS research foundations.

Langs' parents were then handed a ball for their ceremonial tosses.

What is ALS?

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disorder that attacks cells in the brain and spinal cord.

The disease is defined by atrophy: motor neurons from the brain progressively degenerate, leading to muscular decay. ALS patients often lose their ability to speak, walk, eat and breathe.

Per the ALS Association, 90 percent of ALS cases involve someone with no family history of the disease. There is no known cure.

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Other high-profile ALS cases in recent years: "SpongeBob SquarePants" creator Stephen Hillenburg, former Boston College baseball player Pete Frates, former NFL player Steve Gleason and Calgary Flames assistant general manager Chris Snow.

Lou Gehrig 'Luckiest Man' speech

Gehrig's speech is one of the most famous in sports history. Standing before a capacity crowd at the first Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939, the terminally ill "Iron Horse" delivered a stirring address.

Gehrig's speech, in its entirety:

"For the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break. 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 they're 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 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."

David Suggs

David Suggs Photo

David Suggs is a content producer at The Sporting News. A long-suffering Everton, Wizards and Commanders fan, he has learned to get used to losing over the years. In his free time, he enjoys skateboarding (poorly), listening to the likes of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and D’Angelo, and penning short journal entries.