Lou Gehrig.

“Baseball is the best.”

That phrase was championed by writer, researcher and statistician Sarah Langs and has subsequently reverberated around the baseball world. Langs’ passion and love for the sport is apparent and shines through in her work as she continues to make an impact and help the game in so many ways while also battling ALS.

Langs grew up in Manhattan and was raised by two baseball-loving parents, surrounding her with the game from an early age. She quickly became fully immersed into the sport, and explained to Zach Buchanan of The Athletic that she would beg to stay up and watch Baseball Tonight on ESPN.

Langs attended the University of Chicago and interned at SNY before ultimately landing a job with ESPN as a researcher, where her zeal, knowledge and attitude quickly caught the attention of her colleagues.

“That’s what always stuck out about Sarah for me,” Yankees manager and former ESPN colleague Aaron Boone was quoted as saying by Andrew Marchand of the New York Post. “She loves what she does.”

“She’s special, she’s special,” Mets’ manager and former ESPN colleague Buck Showalter said ahead of Friday’s game according to Laura Albanese. “She was sharp and way before people came out with all the printouts, she was the printout…She was brilliant and she still is…She’s very humble but she shouldn’t have been because she was ahead or all of us.”

Langs has also worked with MLB Network and MLB.com while making her mark on baseball in a multitude of different ways, including being a part of the first all-female broadcast team in July of 2021.

Langs revealed last October that she was diagnosed with ALS. Otherwise known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, ALS is a nervous system disease that targets nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Despite more attention and focus being placed towards the understanding and research of the disease, there is no known cure yet.

Langs has not let her diagnosis discourage her, and she continues to fight to a positive outlook and courage.

“If Lou ever had the chance to meet Sarah, I think he would be proud of both her courage and her grace,” stated Mandy Bell, one of Sarah’s close friends and the Cleveland Guardians beat writer for MLB.com. “I know I am.”

“She’s impacting the disease, just as you’d think Sarah would,” Showalter said. “She’s trying to make an impact every day that she’s with us. And she is.”

Langs, who grew up a Mets’ fan, was honored by the team on Lou Gehrig Day at Citi Field on Friday night, where she was presented with a $10,000 check for Project ALS by owner Alex Cohen. Langs and members of her family sported shirts with the phrase “Baseball is the best” on front, which were manufactured by RotoWear with proceeds going towards Project ALS. 

Langs, in tandem with Project ALS, started a fundraiser called #FistBumps4ALS that is aimed at raising awareness and donations through the use of the hashtag in social media posts. The cause has raised over $64,000 dollars as of Saturday morning while Langs’ peers and colleagues across baseball participated, with the Arizona Diamondbacks pledging $25,000 in support as well.

Another initiative through which awareness is being raised A Langs Star. Project ALS partnered with Creative Cottage to create an illuminated star that can be purchased for $50.00 with all proceeds going towards finding a cure for ALS. Each broadcast booth hung up A Langs Star on Friday night to support the cause and spread the message.

The New York Yankees recently announced that they will be honoring Langs during HOPE Week as an honoree on Tuesday, July 4, which is on the anniversary of Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” speech.

“Langs and other women from the ALS community will be honored in a pregame ceremony, which will include a video of Lou Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” speech being read by Yankees players, Sarah and other women of the ALS community,” the Yankees stated. “Sarah and her fellow honorees will also take the field with the team prior to first pitch and be guests of the Yankees for their 1:05 p.m. game vs. Baltimore.”

Langs has not only made a difference in her field and in the sport of baseball as a whole but also in the fight against ALS, and she is a true inspiration to us all.