Sarah Langs honored with Iron Horse Award at 2025 Lou Gehrig Legacy Gala

NEW YORK -- On May 2, 1939, Lou Gehrig's famous streak ended after 2,130 games when he took himself out of the Yankees’ lineup. Exactly fifty-four years later, Sarah Langs was born.

Their stories have been intertwined since before Langs could hold a pencil. And now, that connection has been formally recognized.

On Tuesday night at Chelsea Piers, Langs was honored with the Iron Horse Award at ALS United Greater New York’s annual Lou Gehrig Legacy Gala. Langs received her award alongside Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, who earned the Lou Gehrig Sports Award for his leadership and philanthropy; Thomas Pulley, who received the Jacob K. Javits Lifetime Achievement Award; and QurAlis Corporation CEO Kasper Roet, who won the Champion Award for pioneering ALS research.

The event, which “celebrates the enduring spirit of Lou Gehrig and honors individuals who exemplify courage, leadership, and commitment in the fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS),” was hosted by ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap. Bob Costas served as the evening’s master of ceremonies, as attendees enjoyed a three-course meal and bid on the silent auction between speeches.

“It's events like this where we're able to bring in a huge audience and share with them what we're doing to further research, to further advocacy, to improve our care services,” said Kristen Cocoman, president and CEO of ALS United Greater New York. “And then everyone in the room tonight will then take that out to their family, their friends, their community, and it will just continue to share.”

As she praised each honoree, Cocoman, who has worked for ALS United for over 25 years, emphasized Langs’ “incredible work” spreading ALS awareness to her devoted following. Former MLB catcher John Flaherty also applauded Langs’ passion for baseball and knowledge of its history and David Cone called her “nothing short of a hero.”

Langs has worked as a reporter and researcher at MLB since 2019, though her unofficial title might as well be “Baseball’s senior stats guru.” After getting diagnosed with ALS in July 2021, she went public with her diagnosis right before the 2022 postseason. Her announcement on X quickly generated an outpouring of support that continues to this day.

Shirts bearing her signature catchphrase, “Baseball is the Best,” have been on sale from Rotowear since shortly after she told the world about her condition, with proceeds going towards Project ALS. Many organizations have since honored Langs -- she received the New York BBWAA chapter’s “You could look it up” award at their 2023 dinner, was honored at last year’s All-MLB Awards Show and has a SABR scholarship named after her.

Amidst all of this attention, Langs has taken a page from Gehrig’s book and kept her focus on her day job.

“Throughout this postseason, [Gehrig’s] name popped up on numerous lists of playoff prowess, as it always does,” Langs said in her speech. “These days, when his name comes up in research, I have an added feeling of pride, that our guy did that. From what I’ve read about Gehrig, that’s what he would want -- to be known for his work first, not his disease.”

The idea of Langs as an “Iron Horse” makes complete sense to anyone who has worked with her. Throughout all seven games of this year’s World Series, she was up until well after the last out (yes, even after Game 3 ended at 2:50 a.m. ET!) verifying stats for coworkers, writing illuminating “Did you know?” stories for MLB.com and posting her findings on X. As her illness has progressed, the quality of her work and brightness of her enthusiasm has remained steady.

“Sarah has been super impressive in the community for a long time,” said Cole, who still regularly messages her about eye-catching stats. “Just a magnetic personality and a really, really smart person that [adds] a lot of interesting facts to the industry and to the game.”

Like Langs, the Yankees’ ace has a longstanding connection with Gehrig. In fourth grade, he had to do a presentation on an influential person, and Cole, whose lifelong Yankee fandom is well-documented, went with the iconic No. 4. Through that assignment, he learned about Gehrig’s career and illness, and began to internalize what the Hall of Famer went through as he fought what is known today as ALS. Gehrig served as an inspiration and driving force for Cole’s success from then on.

“Now, as a New York Yankee myself, Lou Gehrig's legacy means something even more and even greater than I imagined,” Cole said in his speech. “He showed us what it means to live with courage and to face adversity with dignity and grace, and that is why his name and his story continue to guide this movement.”

Before Langs’ heartfelt video tribute and speech closed out the night, there were many other touching moments throughout the ceremony. A spirited speed-fundraising effort raised over $465,000 during the meal. Roet spoke at length about his work developing gene and stem cell-based treatments for ALS, noting that his research gives him full confidence that ALS is “solvable.” Pulley, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2024, delivered remarks out loud via technology that can recreate an ALS patient’s voice and speak in full, smooth sentences.

Langs used the same technology to deliver her speech, which was greeted with a long standing ovation. In this way, she can still use her voice to communicate with a crowd.

But what the night made abundantly clear is that even with ALS having diminished her ability to speak, Langs’ voice is still resonating online with the ALS and baseball communities alike.

“The best way for me personally to raise awareness,” she said, “is simply by being me.”