-Do you guys think the order of my essay is logical? I start off discussing the background of the speech and then delve into ethos then pathos.
-Should I mention logos more?
“Yet today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.”
-Lou Gehrig
Seventy-three years ago, on July 4th, a man whose skillset lied on the baseball field, much rather than in speechmaking, delivered one of the most effective and inspiring speeches of all time. His name was Lou Gehrig, and in the matter of approximately two minutes, he managed to reflect not only his own thoughts of his disease and retirement from baseball, but also the thoughts and mindsets of his fans and the American people during the 1930s. Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech, famously including the aforementioned quote, drew upon many rhetorical strategies in order to convey themes and emotions that, especially during the time period, were extremely important to his fans and all people. Gehrig heavily utilized ethos and pathos to “argue” his point, and it was these two rhetorical appeals combined that allowed him to establish himself as a humble and thankful man who considered himself nothing but lucky to have been given the opportunities in life that he had been given.
The backdrop of Lou Gehrig’s speech is extremely important in considering why his speech was so rhetorically effective. As mentioned previously, the speech was delivered seventy-three years ago, in 1939. At this time, the country was slowly recovering from the Great Depression and war was imminent in Europe. It was a testing time for the American people, so just to relax and enjoy themselves, people went to baseball games. People looked up to these baseball players and it was through them that they could get away from all the hassles and stresses of daily life. New Yorkers specifically looked up to Lou Gehrig, the Yankees’ first baseman at the time who was always known as a man of hard-work, perseverance, and humility. Considering the time period, people were inspired by Gehrig to emulate such qualities to overcome the hardships in their own lives.
Because of his positive standing with his fans and many other baseball players, Gehrig was able to effectively utilize ethos throughout his speech. Ethical proof is dependent upon the rhetor’s reputation among his audience and other people; for Gehrig, his reputation was one of a hard-working and determined man and so his audience already held favor with Gehrig. In fact, the first word in Gehrig’s speech is “Fans.” He immediately directly addresses the fans and by doing this, he is unselfishly noting that this speech is for them, the people who had always been there for him. Already, Gehrig had established the setting for his speech; although on the surface it was a retirement speech, it immediately became a speech about being grateful and giving thanks to the people who got him to where he was. Furthermore, by his first word as an address to the fans, Gehrig abolishes the hierarchical nature of baseball player/celebrity and fan and puts himself on the same level with his fans. Although Gehrig was the one with the power in this rhetorical situation, he made it an important point that the disparity between himself and his fans should be eliminated. It was his way of giving back to the fans as well as a way of indicating that his messages and the themes in his speech were universal and not just for himself or people of his status.
Of course, Gehrig had to adjust his ethos for the situation. His fans did not know him for public speaking; they knew him as a baseball player. Gehrig knew that this speech was very important and it was necessary that he establish an ethos that would be taken more seriously than just simply a baseball player. So throughout his speech, Gehrig carefully used different grammatical techniques to establish himself as a reliable speechmaker and thus an effective speechmaker. For instance, throughout his speech he poses questions and then answers them with the same phrase: “Sure, I’m lucky.” Later on in his speech, he notes specific people and moments in his life where he has felt extremely blessed and he follows them all with the phrase “That’s something.” The repetition of these phrases allows Gehrig to emphasize how truly fortunate he has been in his life in a rhetorically effective way. The whole of Gehrig’s speech also demonstrates parallel structure; in the second part of the speech, Gehrig describes those that he has grown to know professionally throughout his career and then gives them a name at the end of the sentence. In the last part of the speech, he does the reverse and names the people that he has grown with personally at the beginning of the sentence and then goes on to describe how they have impacted his life in the latter part of the sentence. By doing this, Gehrig could get his points across in a very concise yet impactful way which allowed his audience to trust his word and his ability as a rhetor.
Without the existence of pathos, Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech wouldn’t have been nearly as effective amongst his audience and for future audiences as it had become; without pathos, it would’ve simply just been another retirement speech. A multitude of factors contributed to the emotional appeal of Gehrig’s speech; first, he was finally addressing the reason why he was retiring from baseball, and this reason was the disease known as ALS. Always regarded as one who could persevere through anything, Gehrig finally indicated through this speech that battling this disease was going to be the toughest battle yet and it would prevent him from continuing his baseball career. It was surely difficult for his fans to come to terms with this as they saw him as their hero during such a tumultuous time period. Nevertheless, Gehrig did not seek to evoke sadness out of his audience; throughout his speech, he sought to evoke hope over despair, thankfulness over pity, and humbleness over self-righteousness. It was so important that he evoke these emotions because then he would contrast to the ideals that the American people had come to adopt. After persevering through the Great Depression, people would rarely be emotionally drawn to someone who outwardly seeks sympathy from others. Gehrig did not seek sympathy from his situation; in fact, he did not once mention his disease specifically and rather focused on the positive moments that he had experienced throughout his life. Hence, people connected to this speech because here was a man who had experienced hardship upon hardship and yet still saw the good in life.
The speech was effective pathetically too because of Gehrig’s delivery of the speech. The day that Gehrig delivered this speech was also a day of ceremonies surrounding Gehrig and his retirement. Many people spoke that day at the stadium, including Yankees manager Joe McCarthy, who preceded Gehrig’s speech with a very emotional one himself. Gehrig’s speech, his final words to his fans on a baseball field, was guaranteed to consist of an emotional delivery. Because Gehrig felt emotionally invested in his words, his audience was allowed the same opportunity. Lastly, the final few comments that Gehrig made in his speech surround the family. The idea of the family was something that had become extremely important to Americans at this time due to the Great Depression and war. Gehrig made it clear that the family is one of the most important things in life and the people at the time instantly connected to this because of experience. Due to both the backdrop and motifs used throughout the speech, Gehrig drew upon the emotional attachment of his fans to himself and his values and used this to deliver a memorable and inspiring speech.
Lou Gehrig’s “Farewell to Baseball” speech has maintained its effectiveness to this day because Gehrig had established himself among the people of his time as an admirable and truly appreciative man as well as presented the theme of hope in an emotionally-appealing way that would continue to be a universal theme for ages to come. What Gehrig was arguing for in this speech was that hope could be found amidst the darkest of times, and he succeeded in doing this as his speech is still referred back to even to this day. Essentially, his speech comes down to recognizing what’s truly important in one’s life. Gehrig felt that he had been truly blessed to have found the most important things in his life, and it is the final statement of his speech that summarizes this hopeful outlook on life: “…I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for.”