What made Lou Gehrig special? What made him the luckiest man? In many ways he was average but unlike most average people, though, he happened to be incredibly gifted as a baseball player and he came to have a devastating disease named after him. Those are the facts. I picked up this book -to find out the rest of the story, and mostly found it.

The book starts out with a description of that famous July 1939 day when Gehrig delivered his famous "luckiest man" speech. The audio CD version has actual excerpts by Gehrig from that day. Its a great start, and invites the reader to delve into the events leading to that day, and find out what defined its significance.

Gehrig's life doesn't contain many gasp-worthy moments and in fact most of it I found a little unremarkable. Eig puts in a lot of nice little details, such as his relationship with Babe Ruth and correspondences with Dr. Leary at the Mayo Clinic. And it contains many play by play accounts of significant baseball moments for Gehrig. Details about his relationship with his mom Christina, and about his wife Eleanor. Nice stuff.

But the answer to what made that 1939 day special and its significance is as much about Gehrig's life up to that point as about what came after and how we remember him today. Eig dug deep into his research and gave us a complete image of Gehrig after baseball was over for him. Did you know, for instance, that he worked as a parole officer? That his wife Eleanor lovingly administered food and drink to him during his last agonizing days? That Babe Ruth visited him the night of his death? In my opinion, the part that happened after that 1939 day is what makes this book special.

So what made him "the luckiest man on the face of the earth?" The answer is in the tears that filled my eyes during the last chapter and the epilogue. The answer is in the inspiration I felt from the man himself, the Iron Horse. The answer is simply who he was - Lou Gehrig. We should all aspire to be as authentic.

Highly recommended for everyone, but especially for anyone remotely interested in baseball.

PS This book was read by Edward Herrmann, a famous actor who most would know by sight. He does an adequate job here, though fairly unemotional. Not a major hindrance to enjoyment. imho.