The Twisted History of Eponyms

New York Daily News Archive. Getty Images.

(Excerpt from: The Twisted History of Eponyms, available on YouTube) 

"We’ll start with this …

Lou Gehrig was a New York Yankees legend. Some considered him the next Babe Ruth (he actually had the same agent as Ruth) and he was the first athlete ever on a Wheaties box.

He was a native New Yorker, who grew up in Harlem and went to Columbia. He set several major-league records during his career, including most career grand slams (23; since broken by Alex Rodriguez), and most consecutive games played (2,130), a record that stood for 56 years and was considered unbreakablem until Cal Ripken Jr. surpassed it in 1995.

Gehrig's consecutive game streak ended on May 2, 1939, when he voluntarily took himself out of the lineup, stunning both players and fans, after his performance in the field had become hampered by an undiagnosed ailment. 

A month later, he was diagnosed with ALS on his 36th birthday in 1939, noticing symptoms like muscle weakness and loss of coordination. Before his diagnosis, ALS was largely unknown to the public. Gehrig's career-ending illness and his emotional "the luckiest man on the face of this earth" speech introduced the disease to millions.

Gehrig never played again and retired in 1939 at age 36. Two years later, “The Iron Horse" died of complications from ALS.

Because of his story and the attention he brought, the disease became commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease in the United States, even though it's called ALS or motor neuron disease everywhere else.

Everyone knows the Iron Horse nickname, but Gehrig had also been known as "Biscuit Pants" due to his thick legs …" - Large 

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