ALS is called “Lou Gehrig’s disease” because the famous New York Yankees baseball player Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with ALS in the late 1930s, bringing huge public attention to the condition in the United States.

Quick Scoop

Who was Lou Gehrig?

  • Lou Gehrig was a star first baseman for the New York Yankees, known as the “Iron Horse” for his durability and long consecutive-games streak.
  • In 1939, after a sudden decline in his strength and performance, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a then-little-known neurodegenerative disease.

How his diagnosis changed the name

  • Before Gehrig, ALS was mainly known by its medical name, “amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,” used mostly in neurology and research circles.
  • Gehrig’s very public retirement and farewell speech in 1939 made the disease widely known to the American public, and people began informally calling ALS “Lou Gehrig’s disease” in recognition of his case.
  • Over time, that nickname stuck in everyday language in North America, even though doctors still use the term ALS in medical contexts.

What ALS actually is (in brief)

  • ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects motor neurons—the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscles.
  • As these motor neurons die, muscles weaken and waste away, leading to increasing paralysis and, eventually, difficulty breathing.

Today’s context and naming

  • You’ll often see both names together, like “amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease,” especially in patient education and awareness campaigns.
  • Some organizations now emphasize “ALS” more than “Lou Gehrig’s disease,” to recognize that the condition affects many people worldwide, not just linked to one famous case, but the historical nickname is still very common in the U.S. and Canada.

Bottom note
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.