How long did Lou Gehrig live after being diagnosed with ALS?

Henry Louis Gehrig was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees.

Lou Gehrig was renowned for his prowess as a hitter and for his durability, which earned him his nickname “The Iron Horse”.

Lou Gehrig was an All-Star seven consecutive times, a Triple Crown winner once, an American League (AL) Most Valuable Player twice, and a member of six World Series champion teams.

Lou Gehrig had a career .340 batting average, .632 slugging average, and a .447 on base average. He hit 493 home runs and had 1,995 runs batted in (RBI).

Lou Gehrig still has the highest ratio of runs scored plus runs batted in per 100 plate appearances (35.08) and per 100 games (156.7) among Hall of Fame players.

Lou Gehrig was the first MLB player to have his uniform number (4) retired by a team.

image via: The Sun

Lou Gehrig set the record for most consecutive games played (2,130), a record that stood for 56 years and was long considered unbreakable until surpassed by Cal Ripken Jr., in 1995.

However, Lou Gehrig’s consecutive game streak ended on May 2, 1939, when he voluntarily took himself out of the lineup, stunning both players and fans, after his performance on the field became hampered by an undiagnosed ailment subsequently confirmed to be amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable neuromuscular illness; which is now commonly referred to in North America as “Lou Gehrig’s disease.”