Lou Gehrig

John Wilkes Booth shot a man who may have been dying of thyroid cancer. A particular genetic disorder leads inevitably to such an end, and though it is extremely rare, is it possible that it afflicted Abraham Lincoln? And was his declining health in early 1865 a sign that he was on death's doorstep? Last week, in a lecture hall at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. John Sotos presented his hypothesis that Lincoln suffered from a syndrome, called MEN 2B, that would explain his unusual lanky build, his chronic constipation, his hooded eyes and droopy face, his asymmetric jaw and the benign lumps on his lips.

With four RBIs last night, Juan Gonzalez of the Texas Rangers became the second player to reach 100 RBIs before the All-Star break. A look at the players with the most RBIs at the break:RBIs, Player, Team, Yr, G103, H. Greenberg, Det '35, 76101, Gonzalez, '98, 8791, H. Killebrew, Min, '69, 9690, Lou Gehrig, NYY, '34, 7390, Tommy Davis, LA, '62, 8990, Tony Perez, Cin, '70, 8890, George Foster, Cin, '77, 89Pub Date: 7/06/98

Go figure013 -- Orioles who wore No. 8 before Ripken.15 -- Years Ripken played in all of his club's games, a major-league record.I;16 -- Consecutive All-Star Game appearances by Ripken.27 -- Games Ripken played at third base at the start of the streak before moving to shortstop.;-32 -- Orioles coaches during the streak.33 -- Orioles second basemen while Ripken was at shortstop. The Orioles also used 33 third basemen during that time.95 -- Consecutive errorless games at shortstop, a major-league record, from April 14 to July 27, 1990.

More than 31 months after he accepted a riveted nation's adulation outside the Camden Yards home dugout, Cal Ripken today will make another, more understated appearance by playing consecutive game No. 2,500.There will be no logo baseballs. The Bird will not unfurl numbers from the warehouse. No emotional laps around the outfield. No speeches. Not even national TV. This is for family only, thank you. A nod and a firm handshake will do. Unlike unforgettable 2,131 -- the number that pushed him past Lou Gehrig -- today's "big, round number" has attracted little attention, including from Ripken.

It was grueling.Everybody knows that.Cal Ripken played with sprained ankles and twisted knees and bruised ribs. He played with head colds and flu symptoms. He played on even after Lou Gehrig handed over his record and Davey Johnson took away his primary position. He played on and on and on, until there was only one question left.Was it all worth it?"When I look back, I feel very proud," Ripken said last night, "not necessarily of the number of the streak but the fact that my teammates could always depend on me to be out there.

WASHINGTON -- Statistics and probabilities can be puzzling, even paradoxical, as the man knew who wrote:Very, very, very fewPeople die at ninety-two.I suppose that I shall beSafer still at ninety-three.Another example: In the movie ''Fathers' Day,'' Billy Crystal wants Robin Williams to facilitate a deception by pretending to cry. Mr. Crystal suggests that Williams imagine that he is a tragic hero like Lou Gehrig. Mr. Williams asks, ''Who's that?''Mr. Crystal, dumbfounded, says, ''Everybody knows Lou Gehrig -- the baseball player, he died of Lou Gehrig's disease.

Eddie Murray has six homers since rejoining the Orioles last month, and is three short of 500 for his career. The all-time list:1. Hank Aaron.. .. .. .. .. .. .7552. Babe Ruth .. .. .. .. .. .. .7143. Willie Mays.. .. .. .. .. ...6604. Frank Robinson.. .. .. .. ...5865. Harmon Killebrew.. .. .. .. .5736. Reggie Jackson.. .. .. .. ...5637. Mike Schmidt.. .. .. .. .. ..5488. Mickey Mantle.. .. .. .. .. .5369. Jimmie Foxx.. .. .. .. .. ...53410. Willie McCovey.. .. .. .. ...521.. .Ted Williams.

Dorothy F. Olsen, a nurse who treated Lou Gehrig and saw the results of Nazi barbarism at the Buchenwald concentration camp while serving in Europe with the Army during World War II, died June 15 Lorien Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Columbia. She was 76.Mrs. Olsen, who lived at the Charlestown Retirement Community, spent 19 months as a combat nurse.The former Dorothy Ann Fearn was born in Pittsfield, Mass., and moved to Bronxville, N.Y., where she graduated from high school in 1937.

LINCOLN, R.I. -- The German television crew has left. Ted Koppel may call at any moment. And the nun is late.Noel David Earley can't remember the nun's name, or where she is from, but she sounded nice on the telephone. He still plans to kill himself -- the nun had no more success talking him out of it than had other callers -- but there was a sweetness about her. When she asked to visit, he agreed.So everyone's waiting -- a documentary film producer working for "Nightline"; a reporter and photographer from the Providence Journal-Bulletin; a reporter from The Sun.This has the promise of a good scene.

BY THE NUMBER: In 1992, Ripken was the 38th recipient of the annual Lou Gehrig Memorial Award given by the Phi Delta Theta national collegiate fraternity to the major-leaguer who best fits the image and character of the Hall of Fame first baseman.2,093: Consecutive games Ripken has played.2,130: Lou Gehrig's record.Sept 6: projected date to break record.

It's the most recognizable digit in Baltimore. Authorities said that didn't dissuade four young men from ripping Cal Ripken Jr.'s 3 1/2 -foot-tall aluminum number 8 off its base in front of Camden Yards Tuesday night, throwing it into the back of a gray pickup truck and parading it through the city. The men, described in a police report as juiced up on alcohol, apparently got rowdy while stopped on the east side of Patterson Park, and someone called the police to complain. By then, Maryland Stadium Authority guards had flagged down passing police outside the ballpark, and detectives had reviewed a surveillance video showing four young men "pulling and kicking" the sculpture.

The person considered the strongest Raven by coach John Harbaugh received the game ball after Saturday's AFC divisional playoff victory over the Tennessee Titans in Nashville, even though he didn't take a snap or put on a uniform. In the victorious locker room at LP Field, Pro Bowl safety Ed Reed handed the ball to O.J. Brigance, the Ravens' director of player development, saying, "This is for you." Brigance expressed thanks from the motorized wheelchair that he uses as he battles Lou Gehrig's disease, then added, "but we've got two more to play."

The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to provide full disability payments for Lou Gehrig's disease, tacitly acknowledging for the first time a generalized link between the fatal neurological disorder and military service. Veterans and patient advocates have advocated the change for years, citing studies showing that former soldiers are more likely than the general population to contract the disease, formally known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. The VA already extends full compensation to ALS-stricken veterans of the first Persian Gulf war, who, according to a study earlier this decade, are twice as likely as other service members to contract the disease.

As NFL Nation nurses its collective Brett Favre hangover, a certain reality returns to remind one and all of the transient nature of sports. Not only are things sure to change, but they also can change dramatically. If Brett Favre was Lou Gehrig to Don Majkowski's Wally Pipp, then Aaron Rodgers is Babe Dahlgren. Dahlgren was the player who had the awkward obligation of stepping in at first base when illness forced Gehrig from the New York Yankees' lineup in spring 1939. Filling in for legends is always uncomfortable business.

John Wilkes Booth shot a man who may have been dying of thyroid cancer. A particular genetic disorder leads inevitably to such an end, and though it is extremely rare, is it possible that it afflicted Abraham Lincoln? And was his declining health in early 1865 a sign that he was on death's doorstep? Last week, in a lecture hall at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. John Sotos presented his hypothesis that Lincoln suffered from a syndrome, called MEN 2B, that would explain his unusual lanky build, his chronic constipation, his hooded eyes and droopy face, his asymmetric jaw and the benign lumps on his lips.

Orioles reliever Paul Shuey shared an amusing Cal Ripken Jr. anecdote this week. As a young reliever, he tried to throw inside to Ripken during a game in Baltimore - with The Streak still alive and Lou Gehrig still holding the record. Bad idea. "It was an eighth-inning situation, a normal count, so I figured that I'd run one up and in," he said. "I did it, and I thought I was going to get killed. ... I never heard a stadium rise to its feet so fast. I thought, `Oh, what did I do?' I'm out there talking to myself.

PHOENIX -- It hit Miguel Tejada as he lay in bed Thursday night, his fractured left wrist throbbing, his mind struggling to grasp a reality he had never confronted in his major league career. "Right now, I can't help this team," Tejada thought to himself. With that in mind, Tejada submitted to a trip to the 15-day disabled list because of a fracture in the radius bone that occurred when he was hit by a pitch by the San Diego Padres' Doug Brocail on Wednesday night. Tejada watched last night's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks from the dugout, his streak of 1,152 consecutive games played, formerly the longest active streak in the majors and the fifth longest all time, now a memory.

CLEVELAND -- Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada has maintained that he doesn't care about his consecutive games streak, saying he plays every day simply because he loves the game. So Tejada wore a big smile on his face last night as he prepared to play in his 1,103rd consecutive game, which ties him with Hall of Famer Joe Sewell, who played most of his career here with the Cleveland Indians. But it had nothing to do with his placement on a revered list headed by one of his favorite players, Orioles Hall of Famer-elect Cal Ripken.

HERMAN G. STUEMPFLE JR., 83 Lutheran minister The Rev. Herman G. Stuempfle Jr., a former Lutheran minister in Baltimore who became a national church leader and president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, died Tuesday at the Lutheran Home in the Pennsylvania town from complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - Lou Gehrig's disease. Born in Clarion, Pa., he attended public schools in Hughesville, Pa., and was a graduate of Susquehanna University and the Lutheran seminary.

Doctors have known for years that some people with Lou Gehrig's disease also suffer from a type of dementia. And some with that dementia also develop crippling symptoms such as Lou Gehrig's, gradually losing control of their muscles. Today, a team led by University of Pennsylvania scientists reports the discovery of a likely culprit in both. The two distinct diseases are marked by an abnormal accumulation of the same protein - a startling two-for-one discovery described in the journal Science.