In anticipation of Lou Gehrig Day on June 2, Marquee Sports Network General Manager Mike McCarthy shares his perspective on the significance of raising funds for the ALS organization, Project Main St. 

This coming Thursday, the Chicago Cubs and Marquee Sports Network, in partnership with Major League Baseball’s league-wide effort, will call special attention to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), known commonly as Lou Gehrig’s disease, raising awareness and funds for the individuals and families the horrible disease impacts on a daily basis. 

Entering its second year in 2022, Lou Gehrig Day is a critical fundraising event for ALS, but as Marquee Sports Network play-by-play broadcaster Boog Sciambi often says, this type of charitable effort will hopefully be unnecessary in the near future.

However, currently this is not the case, and we are committed to doing what we can to raise awareness about this disease.

Two years ago, I knew next to nothing about ALS, other than being familiar with the famous Lou Gehrig and his passing from the disease later named for him.

Then, a series of events took place — first, I became acquainted with Mr. Sciambi and his work as a board member for the ALS organization Project Main St. His passion and dogged interest in not only ending this disease, but caring for the folks who have it in the meanwhile, was so pronounced, so intense and so sincere that it would have been impossible for his new team at Marquee to be anything less than full partners in helping him with this effort — which we, and the Cubs, of course did happily last year.

Later last year, a dear friend of mine, a restaurateur in St. Louis named Rich LoRusso, was diagnosed with ALS. And sadly, just two months ago, he passed.

Soon after the services for Rich, another dear friend of mine, Terry Clancy from Fairfield, Connecticut, was diagnosed with ALS. With no direct help from myself or from Boog, quite randomly in fact, Project Main St. became the official fundraiser to provide “quality of life” services for Terry and his family. I had no doubt of Project Main St.’s validity, simply by watching Boog at work over the past two years — but my, oh my, was this a direct hit and further evidence of the extraordinary efforts of the organization. 

So, what can we do to help?

If you’re able, donations are critical as we support Project Main St.’s mission to improve the quality of life for individuals afflicted with ALS and their families by lessening the financial burden associated with this devastating disease. It’s a disease still with no cure, and through which only about 10 percent of those individuals with ALS survive for 10 or more years. And with its rapid progression, the financial costs can be crippling to the people battling the disease and their families.

Please consider giving whatever you can, however modest, to this unique cause with a hands-on direct benefit chain that I am a first-person witness to — Project Main Street.  

Tune-in on June 2 as Marquee Sports Network honors Lou Gehrig’s legacy with a special game broadcast dedicated to raising money and awareness to fight ALS and find a cure.