On this day in Yankees history - The Luckiest Man on the Face of this Earth

  It has been 79 years since the luckiest man on the face of this earth gave the greatest speech in sports history, and bowed out of the game. Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day was held at the Stadium on July 4, 1939, just two months and two days after Gehrig benched himself and 13 days after announcing his retirement. The Yankees honored The Iron Horse by retiring his number 4 from service, making him the first player in Major League Baseball history bestowed with the honor. Among the 61,000 plus in attendance were members of the 1927 Murderers Row team, dignitaries, New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and Postmaster General James Farley. La Guardia called Gehrig, "the greatest prototype of good sportsmanship and citizenship," and Farley predicted at the end of his speech, "For generations to come, boys who play baseball will point with pride to your record." Manager Joe McCarthy, whom Gherig had a father and son like relationship with, could barley contain his emotions. After describing Gehrig as, "the finest example of a ballplayer, sportsman, and citizen that baseball has ever known," McCarthy broke down in tears. He turned to his first baseman and said, "Lou, what else can I say except that it was a sad day in the life of everybody who knew you when you came into my hotel room that day in Detroit and told me you were quitting as a ballplayer because you felt yourself a hindrance to the team. My God, man, you were never that." Gehrig was almost too moved to speak. After encouragement from McCarthy, he composed himself and delivered baseball's Gettysburg Address:

Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.

When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift - that's something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies - that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter - that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body - it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed - that's the finest I know.

So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for.

The sellout crowd stood and applauded for two minutes as a visibly shaken Gehrig stepped away from the microphone. He wiped tears away and Babe Ruth hugged him as a band played I Love You Truly and the crowd chanted, "we love you, Lou." The New York Times recalled the day as, "one of the most touching scenes ever witnessed on a ball field that made even hard boiled reporters swallow hard."

Among the many gifts he received that day was a silver trophy from the team with their signatures engraved on it. Inscribed on the front was a poem written by New York Times writer John Kieran specifically for the trophy. It reads:

We've been to the wars together, We took our foes as they came; And always you were the leader, And ever you played the game. Idol of cheering millions; Records are yours by sheaves; Iron of frame they hailed you, Decked you with laurel leaves. But higher than that we hold you, We who have known you best; Knowing the way you came through Every human test. Let this be a silent token Of lasting friendship's gleam And all that we've left unspoken. -Your Pals on the Yankee Team

Watch part of the Iron Horse's tearful goodbye below.