Mets’ High-A affiliate to host ALS Awareness Night
Mets’ High-A affiliate to host ALS Awareness Night
Lou Gehrig gave his iconic farewell speech to
baseball more than 85 years ago. Even doctors
are baffled by the symptoms of Lou Gehrig’s
disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis, or ALS. It is described as “a nervous
system disease that affects nerve cells in the
brain and spinal cord” by the Mayo Clinic I. ALS
eventually impairs the ability to regulate the
muscles involved in breathing, eating, speaking,
and moving. So while scientists and doctors
continue to try and find clues that prove
frustratingly elusive, ALS awareness is at an all-
time high. It is drawn into the baseball world’s
consciousness every June 2 when MLB celebrates
Lou Gehrig Day. On July 20, during the Cyclones’
game against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws at
Maimonides Park, the Mets’ High-A club will host
its inaugural ALS Awareness Night. The event
has a very personal origin story in addition to its
goal of increasing awareness about ALS. “We
have been keeping an eye on this for a while
now,” assistant general manager Billy Harner of
the Cyclones stated. We felt that this would be a
wonderful way to memorialize [Club Vice
President] Steve Cohen, who lost his father to
ALS last year, as well as to contribute to the
effort to combat the illness. Cohen (not to be
confused with Mets and Cyclones owner,
chairman and CEO Steve Cohen] has been with
the club since its inception in 2001, shared a
photo after his father’s death. It showed his dad
in a City College (located in Manhattan) baseball
uniform when he was younger, and the Cyclones
will wear special white uniforms in his honor
that have red trim that matches the official ALS
Association colors.
“I was saddened when I learned that someone I
knew had ALS, but I also believed that it was
incredibly uncommon,” Harner remarked. “For
whatever reason, it appears to be considerably
more common these days. The more people we
spoke with about [ALS Awareness Night], the
more we discovered how many more people it
has affected. Brooklyn has a long history of
charitable activities. The group participates in
community activities and works with groups
such as the American Cancer Society. In order to
raise money for different causes, the club also
organizes an annual event called “Play Ball
Weekend” when staff members and
neighborhood children teams compete in a
series of games over the course of 24 hours.
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