Most Famous Speeches: Lou Gehrig & Babe Ruth Give their Farewell Addresses and Say Goodbye to Baseball

Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth are arguably the two most famous athletes in history and certainly two of the most famous baseball players ever to have played the game in the United States. The following original audio clips are of Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth giving their farewell addresses to baseball.

Lou Gehrig’s speech was given at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939. He died approximately 2 years later from ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a debilitating neurodegenerative disease, now known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Babe Ruth’s farewell speech was given on June 13, 1948 at Yankee Stadium, also known as the “House that Ruth Built.” Babe Ruth died from cancer approximately two months later, on August 16, 1948.

When these two men gave their farewell addresses to baseball, they were also giving their farewell addresses to life here on earth and to all of us who are alive today.

Let us remember these two American giants as we live our daily lives before we, too, will someday have to say goodbye to baseball and good bye to you.