Brooklyn to host ALS Awareness Night

More than 85 years have passed since Lou Gehrig issued his famous farewell speech to baseball.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS and perhaps more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, continues to mystify medical experts. The Mayo Clinic defines it as “a nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. … Eventually ALS affects control of the muscles needed to move, speak, eat and breathe.”

So while scientists and doctors continue to try and find clues that prove frustratingly elusive, ALS awareness is at an all-time high. It is drawn into the baseball world’s consciousness every June 2 when MLB celebrates Lou Gehrig Day.

Now the Brooklyn Cyclones are planning to support that effort.

The Mets’ High-A affiliate will hold its first ALS Awareness Night on Saturday, July 20, at Maimonides Park as part of the Cyclones' game against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws. While the event is designed to raise awareness toward ALS, it also has roots in a very personal way.

“This is something that has been on our radar for some time now,” Cyclones assistant GM Billy Harner said. “[Club vice president] Steve Cohen lost his father to ALS last year and we thought this would be a great way to not only honor him, but to do our part in the fight against the disease.”

Cohen (not to be confused with Mets and Cyclones owner, chairman and CEO Steve Cohen) has been with the club since its inception in 2001, shared a photo after his father’s death. It showed his dad in a City College (located in Manhattan) baseball uniform when he was younger, and the Cyclones will wear special white uniforms in his honor that have red trim that matches the official ALS Association colors.

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“The first time I found out someone I knew had ALS I was sad, but I also thought it was extremely rare,” Harner said. “For whatever reason, it seems much more prevalent now. The more people we had discussions with about doing [ALS Awareness Night], we realized a lot more people have been impacted by it.”

Brooklyn is no stranger to philanthropic endeavors. The team is active in the community and with organizations like the American Cancer Society. The club also hosts a yearly event for “Play Ball Weekend” that has involved staff and local youth teams competing in a number of games over 24 consecutive hours to raise money for various charities.

“Major League Baseball has done an incredible job of getting the word out about ALS,” Harner said. “It’s our hope to use that as a stepping stone ourselves and build a platform for us, the Mets and Minor League Baseball to spread the word as well.”

The hope is that ALS Awareness Night turns into something the club can find ways to implement on a yearly basis.

“This is our first time doing this, so we wanted to dip our toes in the water and do it right from the start,” Harner said. “We’ll try and build off of it from there, and hopefully, it’s something we can continue to bring back annually.”

Fans who attend Saturday’s game will see more than just a different uniform. Staff from the ALS United Greater New York will be will be on hand to provide information about the disease and how the public can assist in the organization's endeavors.

It is still not known what causes the disease that affects 1 in 400 people. It’s estimated there are somewhere between 20,000-30,000 people in the United States currently afflicted with ALS.

Soberingly, no cure has been found.

“The biggest part of doing this is getting the word out,” Harner said. “Make people aware that there are a lot more people impacted by ALS than they think. It’s a terrible thing to see people suffer through this and even it’s something small, we can help impact something in a positive way.”