Besides being the birthday of the legendary George M. Steinbrenner III, the Fourth of July has had special significance to the Yankees because of two great events that occurred on that day. The first took place on July 4, 1939, when the team honored Lou Gehrig, who was recently forced into retirement by a mysterious illness that would eventually bear his name. The Iron Horse died less than two years later (click here to make a donation to the ALS foundation), but the memories of his great career and emotional speech live on vividly to this day…especially on this day.
The second event, which occurred in 1983, was a joyous occasion. On that year’s holiday, Dave Righetti treated the Yankee Stadium crowd to his own version of fireworks by no-hitting the rival Boston Red Sox. In honor of Independence Day, below is a look in at those two events.
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