In March 2021, Major League Baseball announced that it would celebrate Lou Gehrig Day annually on June 2. Gehrig joined Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente as the only players to have a day reserved in their honor throughout the league. The announcement was a moment of great celebration for those affected by ALS and who support and advocate for the disease. The annual event provides another major platform to strengthen Lou Gehrig’s legacy. It also gives many ALS families hope that heightened awareness and funding for this awful disease will bring significant progress and a cure.

Why June 2? It is the day in 1925 that Gehrig began his record-breaking consecutive games streak (2,130), and later, the day the Iron Horse died.

To celebrate Lou Gehrig Day, Major League Baseball clubs planned unique celebrations, ALS-related organizations rallied their people, and fans filled stadiums to be a part of this special day. Phi Delta Theta announced Stephen Piscotty of the Oakland Athletics as the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award recipient and later presented it to him at RingCentral Coliseum on June 8.

Inaugural Lou Gehrig Day celebrations at the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates ballparks included a special presentation and donation of Permobil power wheelchairs to ALS patients in those communities, organized through a partnership with Phi Delta Theta and the LiveLikeLou Foundation.