Baseball and holiday intertwined

Happy Fourth of July weekend and don’t burn the burgers.

Baseball has been fortunate to be part of Fourth of July celebrations. The “national pastime” has derived great benefits from positioning itself in the same sentence as hot dogs, apple pie and the flag.

That relationship has fostered some interesting stories over the years that are highlighted because of the connection of the Fourth of July and baseball.

It was July 4, 1939, when one of baseball’s most emotional and enduring moments came to pass at Yankee Stadium as Lou Gehrig bid farewell with a speech he never intended to give and was thus spontaneous.

“Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for 17 years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans. Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure I’m lucky. When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift – that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies -that’s something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter – that’s something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body – it’s a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed – that’s the finest I know. So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for.”

A couple of no-hitters have come on July 4. In 1912, George Mullen of the Tigers pitched one against the St. Louis Browns on the same day Jack Johnson won the world heavyweight boxing crown.

On July 4, 1983, Dave Righetti pitched a no-hitter against the Red Sox. Jerry Remy was the leadoff batter in a Sox lineup that included Wade Boggs, Jim Rice, Tony Armas, Dwight Evans, Reid Nichols, Dave Stapleton, Jeff Newman and Glenn Hoffman.

Righetti finished with four walks and nine strikeouts and still says he “just picked the right day and the right place” since it was Yankee Stadium and the anniversary of Gehrig’s farewell speech.

More important, of course, the Declaration of Independence was signed by men who knew, as Ben Franklin said, “We either hang together or we hang separately.”

It was on July 4, 1826, that perhaps the most intriguing of all events occurred on the nation’s birthday.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had been key players in the revolution and the formation of a new government. On that 50th anniversary of independence both died within hours of each other at their respective homes in Virginia and Massachusetts.

Adams’ last words are said to have been, “Jefferson still lives.” Unbeknownst to Adams, Jefferson had died hours earlier.

The Constitution lives on, Franklin’s words are still the truth and baseball and the Fourth of July remain intertwined.

bdnsports@bangordailynews.net