Gerrit Cole recalls school project on Lou Gehrig as MLB honors the Yankee legend

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Gerrit Cole, the Yankees and the rest of Major League Baseball are celebrating the first-ever Lou Gehrig Day on Wednesday, and for Cole, it was a chance to look back on the impact that the Yankee legend had on his life and early days of baseball fandom.

No, Cole never met Gehrig or saw him play, but his legend among the Yankee franchise was enough to inspire a young Cole to make The Iron Horse the centerpiece of a school project as a youth, when he was growing up a Yankee fan.

“I think in elementary school we had to do some sort of project or report on somebody, and I chose Lou Gehrig,” Cole said Wednesday. “My dad helped me understand the disease, which is complicated and sad, there’s a lot of different words you can use to describe the disease.”

Gehrig will be honored at all home ballparks on Wednesday, including Yankee Stadium when the Bombers host the Rays, with “4-ALS” logos displayed, and a patch of the same look will be worn by all players, managers and coaches to honor Gehrig, who held the record for consecutive games played for decades, only to have his historic streak broken when he became sick with what was eventually diagnosed as ALS.

“What we learned from Gehrig is some of the virtues I think we all aspire to be,” Cole said. “Humility, sportsmanship, heard-working, perseverance, winning type of guy and obviously a magnificent player. Just really on par with the Yankee brand, I think.”

Gehrig is of course remembered most for his iconic “Luckiest Man” speech, but now it’s Cole that feels fortunate to represent the team that Gehrig helped turn into a household name, an honor he dreamed of since his elementary school days.

“I’m humbled to play for an organization that had him,” Cole said. “We see his number and jersey in our locker room, and to be able to celebrate him as an industry now and to celebrate those characteristics that he had and to encourage people going through this fight and to hopefully come out of this fight with a cure and be able to save people’s lives. It kind of goes beyond baseball. It really touches the human spirit. It’s a wonderful thing.”

Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1

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