On July 4, 1939, an appreciation day was held in Lou Gehrig's honor. At this event, Lou Gehrig gave his farewell speech to baseball. When giving this speech, his purpose was to thank the people he got to spend his life with and his baseball career with. Gehrig wanted to show his appreciation for his family, his friends, and his fans for the opportunity he had been given. Lou Gehrig's farewell speech to baseball is a rhetorically effective speech because of his word choice and his persona Lou Gehrig's farewell speech to baseball is rhetorically effective because of how he delivered the speech, or his persona. While giving this speech, he remained optimistic, selfless, and appreciative. Gehrig says, "Yet today I consider myself the luckiest