BYU professor with ALS honored as baseball helps fight disease

NEW YORK CITY — BYU professor Michael Goldsmith was concerned a few fans might boo when they saw his underhanded flip of the ball in the ceremonial first pitch on Saturday.

But 70 years to the day after Lou Gehrig's immortal speech in Yankee Stadium, the fans understood the courage it took for Goldsmith just to stand on the field.

Stricken by the vicious illness that now bears Gehrig's name, Goldsmith was responsible for Major League Baseball's planning ceremonies in 15 parks on Saturday to raise money and raise awareness to fight ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

ALS is "a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord," in the words of the ALS Association. It is invariably fatal, usually within four years.

Goldsmith, a lawyer and professor at BYU who was found to have ALS in 2006, lighted the bulb in Major League Baseball's brain. The sport had used the doomed Gehrig as one of its central heroes for seven decades, he said, and now it was time to give something back.

He wrote a guest column in Newsweek in November 2008, and his idea was picked up in this column and was noticed by Commissioner Bud Selig, who set Saturday's event in motion.

As the Yankees prepared to play the Blue Jays on Saturday, as part of a project called 4ALS Awareness, all on-field personnel wore patches with Gehrig's No. 4 on them. Portions of Gehrig's speech were recited by current Yankee stalwarts during pregame ceremonies on a gorgeous afternoon. Bases used during the game will be auctioned off. And the Yankees donated $25,000 as an example to help fight ALS.

The Web site, mlb4als.mlblogs.com, is in operation for people to learn more about the illness and to pledge money for base hits by their favorite players, in the major and minor leagues, to finance research by various ALS organizations. As an example of what can be done in a unified effort, the Philadelphia Phillies had raised $867,670 this year in a separate drive against ALS.

More money is needed because pharmaceutical companies are not interested in research for drugs to fight ALS. because of the current lack of progress, according to Steven Perrin, the chief executive of the ALS. Therapy Development Institute in Cambridge, Mass., who was in a private suite provided by the Yankees.

No donation of gate receipts from the 30 clubs was specified, and perhaps it could have been, but baseball does take on a number of causes. The major leagues have been working for months to produce this day, under the leadership of Jacqueline Parkes, the chief marketing officer.