Lou Gehrig during his rookie season with the New York Yankees, 1923. A private man, he would face a health crisis that would be the subject of much speculation and misinformation. *Photograph by Pacific & Atlantic Photos Inc.*

Catherine, Princess of Wales' Lou Gehrig moment

March 25, 2024

Catherine, Princess of Wales’ video announcement of her cancer has brought me to another famous and famously private figure diagnosed in his case with an incurable illness also in the prime of life. New York Yankees’ first baseman Lou Gehrig was 36 when he was diagnosed in 1939 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the disease that would bear his name. Then as now there were speculations and misinformation, and a private person had to make his pain public. Now as then we are confronted with what it means to be “lucky,” as Gehrig described himself.

Lloyd Austin and 'the emperor of all maladies'

January 14, 2024

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III’s failure to disclose his hospitalization for complications from prostate cancer at a particularly sensitive moment when we are fighting proxy wars in Ukraine and the Middle East has raised the expected political hackles as well as some fascinating philosophical questions.

Tony Gwynn, in memoriam (1960-2014)

June 17, 2014

Tony Gwynn dead June 16 at age 54 – what a shame. Think of Gwynn and you think of three things – tremendous hitter; lovely, smiling face; and class act.

I’ll never forget when Gwynn and his San Diego Padres played my beloved New York Yankees back in 1998 for the World Series. The ’98 Yanks were one of the greatest baseball teams ever assembled. Yankee aficionados put them up there with the 1927 Bombers (the so-called Murderers’ Row that included Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig) and the 1939 team that witnessed the passing of the torch from Gehrig to Joe DiMaggio.

So the poor Padres came up against a juggernaut in the 1998 fall classic and went down in four straight games. But Gwynn was stellar and stayed classy – gracious in victory and gracious in defeat.

Tennis love for ailing Baltacha

April 28, 2014

Sending out love to former British tennis star Elena Baltacha as she battles liver cancer. The Ukrainian-born “Bally” rose to British No. 1, winning 11 singles titles and four doubles titles despite a knee injury and being diagnosed at age 19 with primary sclerosing cholangitis. This is an inflammatory, autoimmune disease of the bile duct that can lead to cirrhosis of the liver or cancer, as it has in Baltacha’s case.

This summer, Andy Murray and Martina Navratilova – a former world No 1 and breast cancer survivor – will lead a group of players in a “Rally for Bally” fundraiser to aid Elena, who is now a tennis coach in Ipswich, England.

Indigo love

January 8, 2014

Baby New Year is still in swaddling clothes and yet, certain things are already trending:

Indigo – The deepest of blues is everywhere, from catalogs for stores like Nordstrom and Pottery Barn to a recent Thames & Hudson book, “Indigo: The Color That Changed the World” by Catherine Legrand. Makes sense. Blue is always a good color to take you into spring and summer. And its inkiness makes it such an intriguing alternative to black.

Cancer – Is it just me or does it seem like everyone you know has it or is being tested for it? Turns out, according to The New York Times, that it’s the inevitable byproduct of the genetic mutations that have made evolution a success. Gee, that’s comforting.

And bisexuality – Also per The Times, it’s hip to be bi, except to gay men, who suspect bi men are just in deep denial of their gayness. Read more