Seventy-five years ago, in early May, Lou Gehrig's 14-year iron man streak of 2,130 games came to an end when he did not take the field for a game at Detroit's Briggs Stadium (above).

He never played again for the Yankees, diagnosed later that season with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that now bears his moniker, often called "Lou Gehrig's disease."

On July 4, 1939, he was honored at Yankee Stadium, and gave a speech, calling himself "the luckiest man on the face of the Earth."

Major League Baseball first basemen — including the Tigers' part-timer there, Victor Martinez — helped the sport pay tribute to the Iron Horse in the following video, where they take turns reciting lines from that speech, 75 years ago Friday.