NewsWilliams, Gossage honored at ALS benefit
Yankees legends feted at 15th annual event in NY
By Mark Newman / MLB.com
11/13/09 1:11 AM EST
NEW YORK -- Yankees legends Bernie Williams and Goose Gossage joined the New York Jets' all-time rushing leader, Curtis Martin, and NBA Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins as honorees at the 15th annual Lou Gehrig Sports Award Benefit on Thursday night. The event was put on by the ALS Association's Greater New York Chapter, which raised $700,000 toward the fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.Major League Baseball in 2009 teamed with four major nonprofit organizations -- including the ALS Association -- to start the 4♦ALS Awareness initiative. The initiative's logo was displayed frequently at home ballparks on July 4, from giant scoreboards to the bases to the players' chests. Following that day's games, the first-base bag from each stadium was signed by players and given to MLB.com Auctions to raise additional funds for the participating organizations.
That same day, Major and Minor League ballparks featured players and celebrities reading Gehrig's famous "Luckiest Man" speech as a 70th anniversary tribute. People with ALS were introduced, public-service announcements recorded by former players Curt Schilling and Nolan Ryan were played, and educational information was distributed.
George Vecsey, a longtime New York Times columnist, was at Yankee Stadium for the 70th anniversary tribute. He had written about an ALS-stricken professor named Michael Goldsmith who had appealed for MLB to raise awareness of the disease that had struck down one of its greatest players, and on Thursday night, Vecsey, who wrote Goldsmith's obituary during the 2009 World Series, was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for those efforts, which helped set in motion MLB's initiative.
"Last July 4, 2009, I got to be in Yankee Stadium on the 70th anniversary of the Gehrig speech. It happened to be my 70th birthday," Vecsey said. "I was born the day that Gehrig was making that talk. I didn't think too much of it at the time, but now it means an awful lot to me."
That eerie coincidence brought a collective gasp from the crowd of 500 that filled the ballroom at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. So did these facts:
• 5,600 ALS cases are diagnosed each year -- approximately 15 each day
• Life expectancy is two to five years after diagnosis
• "The average cost is $200,000-plus for the care of a patient, destroying the finances of patients and their families," event co-chairman Alan Griffith told the crowd.
"ALS is a fatal neuromuscular disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cords, and as the disease progresses, patients lose the ability to move, to speak, to swallow and, eventually, to breathe," said Dorine Gordon, president of the New York chapter of the ALS Association. "There is currently no effective treatment, but we are funding research that is geared to find a treatment. We have discovered two genes linked to ALS in the last 12 months, so we are very encouraged that we are going to find some clues and some treatments to follow."
That is the harsh reality. This event, which has raised more than $12 million since the first one, was designed to acknowledge that, to do something about it and to gather to appreciate some people who make you appreciate each day. Bob Costas presented to the honorees, and comical video introductions of the four former sports stars provided a lighthearted touch -- such as the VH1 "Behind the Scenes" spoof introducing Williams as the starving musician who turned to baseball.
"This disease can strike anyone, at any time, anywhere," Williams said. "I feel so blessed to have been a Yankee for 16 years. Unless you have the privilege to wear this uniform, it is hard to truly explain what it feels like to put on pinstripes. Whenever I put that uniform on, I never took for granted the players who came before us -- especially the late Lou Gehrig. I have been truly blessed to receive many awards in my life, but to receive this award that bears Lou's name, it represents every person on this earth who has battled and suffered with this disease. It is as special as any honor I have received, and I'm truly honored and grateful.
"I can only imagine what Lou went through as he went to work each day, putting on that uniform and trying to come to grips with a body that was betraying him every day, for reasons no doctor could comprehend or explain to him. We have come a long way since then because of organizations like the ALS Association and all the work you do. Thanks to all those who continue to support, especially in these tough economic times. Keep up the great work, and let's hope and pray and fight, that one day soon we will have a cure for this terrible disease."
After a week of digesting the sight of his former team winning its 27th World Series title, Williams said that he was struck most by "how they were able to overcome the adversity they faced earlier in the season."
"The Yankees, in the last couple of years, was a team that was fighting so hard to get out of the hole they had dug themselves into in the first part of the season -- they were too tired, in my opinion, to go into the postseason," he said. "I think the amount of great personnel they acquired in the offseason probably allowed them to be in a better position. I think the pitching staff improvements, bringing in Mark [Teixeira] and [Nick] Swisher and all those guys, made the pieces of the puzzle fit.
"And that team is a very special team, and the scary thing about it is, that team is going to be scary for some years to come. If they keep it like that, I think they have a great possibility to be a great contender over the course of maybe the next five or 10 years."
Williams and Gossage played on Yankees teams that repeated as champions, and both believe this year's squad is poised to do the same.
"It's going to take what it took this year: a lot of hard work," Gossage said. "It doesn't just happen. You don't just throw your glove out there. I don't care how much money is spent, certainly they spent a lot of money in the right direction this year in getting [CC] Sabathia, [A.J.] Burnett and Teixeira, but [they have] a great nucleus of a team, and they're going to be very tough to beat next year.
Williams said he also marvels now at the fact that his former teammates -- Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera -- are still at it.
"Obviously the longevity, the consistency of their body of work speaks for itself," he said. "I think it's just magical to have the opportunity to go through a batch of world championships in baseball, and then to wait this much time and go back again and being able to be successful with that same group of guys. I think that's a testament to this organization to keep them together. They had to do their part and perform, but for the most part, with this day and age, with free agency and trades and going from one team to the next, it's pretty remarkable to have a group of guys who have gone through what they went through."
While Williams hailed the present Bombers, Gossage saluted fellow Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter, who died of ALS. Gossage was on the same Yankees pitching staff as Hunter in 1978, signing with the team right after it had won the 1977 World Series.
"This is a great cause," he said. "ALS has, I think, touched all of us. I lost a great teammate to ALS. Catfish Hunter was one of my favorite teammates of all time, and that's quite a statement, because I've had the pleasure of playing with some great players. He was a class act. We lost him to ALS. To be honored tonight is a real honor."
Gossage has always basked in the Yankees' afterglow. He was enshrined in Cooperstown just a little over a year ago, going in as a Bronx Bomber.
"I've always been a Yankee fan," he said. "I grew up a Yankees fan out in Colorado. I had the privilege of playing 22 years in the Major Leagues with nine different teams and loved every moment with every team. My six years here with the Yankees, and then last year being inducted in the Hall of Fame and going in as a Yankee is still something I can't comprehend. For them to win their 27th championship is just amazing, and myself to be part of a championship team in 1978 is something I will never forget. I'm happy for them. That was such a great bunch of guys."
Mark Newman is enterprise editor of MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
