Reporter shares moving story about baseball analyst’s fight against ALS
from Jason Clinkscales, with YardBarker.com/www.yardbarker.com
June 2 is a day of remembrance in the baseball world. Major League Baseball observes Lou Gehrig Day in honor of the legendary New York Yankees first baseman who passed away on that day in 1941, two years after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Mandy Bell, MLB’s beat reporter for the Cleveland Guardians, told a touching story about her best friend and baseball researcher Sarah Langs. In 2021, Langs was diagnosed with ALS, which is often called Lou Gehrig’s disease because of how the namesake brought the ailment into the public consciousness.
In a video for MLB Network, Bell spoke about her bond with Langs and the inspiration her friend has provided in the midst of her ongoing battle with the disease.
"If Lou ever had the chance to meet @SlangsOnSports, I think he would be proud of both her courage and her grace. I know I am." – @MandyBell02#LouGehrigDay pic.twitter.com/4IyBWBzbvN
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) June 2, 2023
Bell laments the fact that despite the medical advancements across generations, there has been no progress 82 years after Gehrig’s passing in combating a disease that was discovered over a century ago. Just as harrowing are the stats that both women know all too well, as Bell wrote on MLB.com:
Medications offered to those with ALS extend lives by a matter of months, not years. According to Sarah’s favorite research group, Project ALS, 30,000 people are living with ALS in the United States at any given time. More than 100,000 are living with it worldwide. The average life expectancy after getting your diagnosis is just two to five years.
Sarah knows she probably won’t see the cure for ALS in her lifetime, but she’s determined to raise funds to support the research it takes to find that cure, so others don’t have to have as devastating of an outlook as she has.
MLB declared Lou Gehrig Day as June 2 not only to honor the anniversary of his passing, but because it was also the day he became the Yankees starting first baseman in 1925. In replacing a slumping Wally Pipp, who complained of a headache that day, Gehrig began his iconic “iron man” streak (hence the Iron Horse nickname) of playing 2,130 consecutive games (a record held until Cal Ripken Jr. played his 2,131st consecutive game on Sept. 6, 1995).