Major League Baseball announced Thursday that June 2 will be officially known as “Lou Gehrig Day.”
Unofficially, it also will be “Jim Hilliard Day.”
Jim is one of the thousands of Americans who’ve come face to face with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — the rare, devastating and fatal condition more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. ALS impacts more than 16,000 living Americans and their families.
Like the Hilliards.
The Hilliards are doers; the kind of people who see life as an adventure waiting to be explored. That’s why they celebrated Thursday’s announcement, and why they see June 2 as baseball’s holiday of hope.
“This will have an incredible impact on my family, the whole ALS community, and all of baseball,” said Sam Hilliard, the Rockies’ 28-year-old outfielder who’s hoping for a breakout season. “ALS, for some reason, has chosen baseball. So I think Lou Gehrig Day is a day that’s long overall. ALS is an underfunded disease and it needs more attention and funding.”
MLB’s plans include an annual tribute in which uniformed personnel will wear a jersey patch celebrating Gehrig. Also, a “4-ALS” logo — commemorating Gehrig’s famed New York Yankees No. 4 — will be displayed around ballparks. MLB will use the day to raise money and awareness to battle ALS.
Gehrig, a Hall of Famer and the Yankees’ “Iron Horse” who played in 2,130 consecutive games, joins Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente as the only players in major league history to have a special day held in their honor. June 2 was selected because it was the day Gehrig became the Yankees’ regular first baseman in 1925, and also the day Gehrig died in 1941, about two years after he was diagnosed with ALS.
Sam Hilliard remembers his father as the family’s Iron Horse before ALS attacked.
“That was one of the things I’ve struggled with the most,” he said. “Growing up, my dad was a very big man, a strong guy and a very hard-working individual. It’s hard to see him so weak. It’s hard to deal with that. ALS can get anyone at any time.”
Jim Hilliard, who played football at the University of Texas in the early 1970s, was a longtime orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist in Arlington. His wife, Tamara Hext Hilliard, is a former Miss Texas, business owner and commercial actor. She and Jim have been married for nearly 33 years.
In 2017, Jim began experiencing troubling physical symptoms, starting with numbness in his hand while playing golf. In early 2018, he was diagnosed with ALS and he’s now confined to his electronic wheelchair. ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that causes people to lose the ability to control their muscles, which affects their ability to walk, talk, eat, and eventually breathe.
Tamara had made it her mission to fight ALS. First, she organized ALS Team Hilliard, to raise awareness and raise money for the ALS Therapy Development Institute.
Then she became an essential member of the grassroots LG4Day committee that eventually convinced Major League Baseball that Lou Gehrig Day should become part of baseball’s rich heritage.
“ALS is kind of a weird club, one you really don’t want to be a member of, but there are a lot of blessings that go along with it and a lot of people you meet,” she said from her home in Fort Worth, Texas.
One of those people was songwriter Bryan Wayne Galentine, who had been diagnosed with ALS in 2017. Tamara met him in Nashville through a mutual friend.
In June 2019, Galentine texted his friends within the tight-knit ALS community. He wondered if MLB would consider honoring Gehrig with a special day the way it does for Robinson and Clemente. Now, about two years later, that dream will soon become a reality.
“Bryan reached out to me and said, ‘I know you love baseball, I know your son is in the minor leagues (at the time), would you like to be on this committee?'” Tamara recalled. “I said, ‘Absolutely. What do I do?'”
The group began networking with players and staff throughout the majors to build support for their cause. The idea was to garner a lot of grassroots support throughout baseball before pitching the idea to Commissioner Rob Manfred and the other powers that be at MLB.
According to Tamara, the Rockies were the first organization to get on board, in part because Jim Kellogg, the club’s vice president of community and retail operations, was all in. Kellogg’s mother died from ALS.
“Jim, and the entire Rockies organization, has been incredible, right from the start,” she said.
The idea of LG4Day stalled for a time, until Oct. 19 when Arizona Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall, Boston Red Sox president Sam Kennedy and Minnesota Twins president Dave St. Peter began emailing the presidents of the teams that had yet to pledge support for a Lou Gehrig Day. That did the trick, and within 24 hours, all 30 teams were unified on the idea.
Sadly, Galentine died on Oct. 22.
“Amazingly, I guess you could say, Bryan Wayne got to hear the news right before he passed away,” Tamara said, her voice choking up. “So this is so special for us. To see how Bryan Wayne grew this from such a small thing to this amazing day is hard to describe.”
Sam Hilliard participated in many of the committee’s Zoom meetings and worked to promote Lou Gehrig Day with his fellow players. But the outfielder tips his cap to his mom’s passionate efforts.
“My mom has been spending pretty much all of her time with dad and helping this committee,” he said. “She has been non-stop working on this. I’m really proud of my mom and how unselfish she’s been throughout this entire process.
“I don’t expect anything less from my mom. She’s a great woman, always looking to help others.”
On June 2, the Rockies are scheduled to host the Texas Rangers at Coors Field. The Hilliards, along with friends and family, plan to drive a specially equipped van 775 miles from Fort Worth to Denver. They’re going to watch their son play baseball and honor two Iron Horses.
For more information or to donate to Team Hilliard ALS Research Fund: fundraise.als.net/teamhilliard
The Link LonkMarch 05, 2021 at 05:11AM
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Rockies’ Sam Hilliard sees Lou Gehrig Day as MLB’s holiday of hope - The Denver Post
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