A digital media executive-turned-Lou Gehrig’s disease patient advocate after being diagnosed with the disease was invited by the Los Angeles Dodgers to throw Friday evening’s ceremonial first pitch as part of Major League Baseball’s commemoration of Lou Gehrig Day.
Since being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2018, Phil Green “immediately looked to turn this negative into a positive by networking with advocates, nonprofits, researchers and other people living with ALS to make a difference each day in the quest to #endALS,” according to his page on the social media platform LinkedIn.
Green is active with many patient advocacy organizations and serves as a volunteer patient advisor to several companies working on ALS therapies and technologies. He is a member of MLB’s Lou Gehrig Day Committee.
Because Green has limited movement of his arms, his 15-year-old son, Parker, will throw the first pitch before the game against the New York Yankees to retired Dodger first baseman Steve Garvey, who is also an ALS advocate.
On Lou Gehrig Day, MLB celebrates the groups and individuals who have led in the pursuit for cures, honors those who are living with ALS, and remember all those who have died from the incurable progressive disease that attacks nerve cells that control muscles throughout the body.
All players, managers and coaches will wear a special Lou Gehrig Day patch on their uniforms. There will also be commemorative base jewels and lineup cards. Red “4-ALS” wristbands will be available to be worn in-game, commemorating Gehrig’s uniform number.
The 2023 fundraising efforts include auctions of Lou Gehrig Day bats autographed by one player from each of the 30 MLB teams, including Dodger outfielder Mookie Betts.
Proceeds will benefit the Massachusetts General Hospital-based Healey & AMG Center for ALS, which is seeking to discover life-saving therapies for the approximately 500,000 people worldwide affected by ALS.
Bidding at auctions.mlb.com will close at 5 p.m. June 12.
The players were selected by MLB researcher and analyst Sarah Langs based on a personal connection to ALS, their support of the ALS community, or a symbolic connection to Gehrig by either their passion for the game, character or a unique statistical connection.
Langs was diagnosed with ALS in 2021.
In honor of Langs, illuminated wooden stars known as “A Langs Star” will be displayed in each television broadcast booth during Lou Gehrig Day games. The stars, made possible through ESPN broadcaster Karl Ravech, woodworker Christopher Owens and Project ALS, will be available for fans to purchase at www.StarsforSarah.org with all proceeds benefiting the nonprofit ALS research funding organization Project ALS on Langs’ behalf.
June 2 was chosen as the date for Lou Gehrig Day to mark the date in 1925 when he became the Yankees’ starting first baseman, the second game of his longtime-record 2,130-game consecutive games played streak after being a pinch-hitter the previous game, and the date in 1941 he died, 17 days before what would have been his 38th birthday.