Lou Gehrig begins his July Fourth farewell address by avowing that he considers himself lucky despite the seemingly awful situation he was immured in. He acknowledges the fans' attention to his circumstances, but calls himself "the luckiest man on the face of the earth". He appeals to their sympathetic emotions by assuring them that in the last 17 years of his baseball career, he had always received "kindness and encouragement" from his fans. He humbly removes the focus from himself, and onto the amazing people he has been able to work with. By including the fans and teammates in his reasons why he considers himself extremely lucky, he effectively draws his audience into his speech and attaches them to himself. Gehrig casually but successfully
