Imagine that one of the greatest baseball players ever had to retire due to a life threatening condition, later to be named after him. That was what happened to the legendary Lou Gehrig. Lou Gehrig was a renowned baseball player for the New York Yankees in the early 1920’s. The “Iron Horse” as he was known, was forced to retire at a young age due to a life threatening disease called ALS and often known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Gehrig was a slugger and was loved by fans for not only for his ability to hit the ball out of the park, but also for his social influence in baseball. His social impact was seen the most at the end of his career when he delivered a speech, changing the lives of everyone at the ballpark that day. Gehrig appeals to pathos, ethos and uses repetition in order to thank the fans and convince the public that he is not to be pitied. Gehrig uses pathos as a way to connect emotionally with his audience in order to create a sympathetic mood. Gehrig uses pathos very early in the speech when he tells the audience to …show more content…
Post speech, The Washington Post described the scene at Yankee Stadium: “strong men weep this afternoon, expressionless umpires swallow hard, and emotion pump the hearts and glaze the eyes of 61,000 baseball fans in Yankee Stadium. It was Lou Gehrig, tributes, honors, gifts heaped upon him, getting an overabundance of the thing he wanted least—sympathy. But it wasn’t maudlin. His friends were just letting their hair down in their earnestness to pay him honor. And they stopped just short of a good, mass cry.” Gehrig's speech inspired millions and also raised awareness for the crippling and sometimes life threatening disease that is ALS. Lou Gehrig forever changed the lives of the people at Yankee stadium that day by giving a speech that showed that the man known as the “Iron Horse” was truly made of