by City News Service

All on-field personnel will wear a "4 ALS" patch at all of Saturday's 15 games. The "4ALS" logo will also appear on top of first base at each stadium, symbolizing Gehrig's position during his 17 seasons with the New York Yankees, uniform number and formal name of the disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The bases will later be auctioned off on Major League Baseball's Web site, www.MLB.com to raise additional funds.

"Lou Gehrig displayed tremendous courage and strength in the face of a debilitating illness, and his speech 70 years ago still stands as one of the defining moments in Baseball history,' Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said.

The "4 ALS" initiative on the anniversary of Gehrig's speech was initially proposed in a November 10 Newsweek "My Turn" column by Michael Goldsmith, a law professor from Utah who was diagnosed with the disease in September 2006.

"Seventy years after Lou Gehrig's farewell speech, no cure exists for ALS,' said Goldsmith, who will be honored before Saturday's New York Yankees- Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium. "Doctors have no real way even to slow its devastating progression.

"Because research for a cure is still in its infancy, defeating ALS will require the same determination that Lou Gehrig and Cal Ripken, Jr. demonstrated in setting records for consecutive games played. I live for the day when all ALS patients can give you a standing ovation for fighting this fight with us.'

ALS destroys the nerve cells controlling muscles, ultimately causing complete paralysis. Average life expectancy is three to five years after diagnosis.

Gehrig's July 4, 1939 farewell speech is also part of movie history, thanks to the 1942 film, "The Pride of the Yankees," which starred Gary Cooper as Gehrig.

However, the cinematic version takes liberties with the actual speech, moving "The luckiest man on the face of the Earth" portion from the second sentence to the end.

Gehrig died on June 2, 1941, less than two years after the speech, 17 days before what would have been his 38th birthday.

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