Why would a man who was recently diagnosed with a deadly disease claim that he’s the luckiest man in the world. Lou Gehrig's “Farewell to Baseball” speech is an effective piece of writing due to his use of emotion and other influential literary devices. Gehrig gave this speech to his fans after being forced to end his illustrious baseball career early, in response to being diagnosed with the fatal disease, ALS. This would later become known as Lou Gehrig’s disease in honor of him. One of the main reasons this speech is effective is the emotional wording he used in order to get the audience engaged and listening. For example, Gehrig states, “I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement
