Gehrig, veterans honored this weekend

MLB to promote ALS awareness and wear Stars & Stripes

Mark Newman / MLB.com

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. ...

Any discussion of the weekend ahead probably should start there, with the beginning of the document that makes it worth celebrating.

How will you spend your Fourth of July holiday weekend?

Read the Declaration of Independence for the first time or all over again. Watch Roy Halladay go for his 11th win; watch rookie Tommy Hanson try to stay unbeaten; watch the Mets and Phillies go at it again. Watch the naming of the All-Star rosters Sunday afternoon. Watch fireworks shows, send up some bottle rockets and bang some firecrackers, swim and grill some juicy burgers.

Help make the world a better place. Yes, you can do that this weekend as well, because that is a big part of the celebration scene you are about to witness around Major League Baseball. This year, the Fourth of July is being celebrated at home ballparks in two ways that each empower and enable fans to help an important cause. Today, every home team will conduct a special on-field ceremony to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's farewell speech -- in an effort to raise awareness through and financial support for organizations leading the fight against ALS, the disease that claimed his life and bears his name. And all weekend long, players again will wear those red Stars & Stripes caps as part of national fundraising and awareness initiatives for Welcome Back Veterans, a program that addresses the mental health and job needs of returning military veterans.

See MLB.com/4ALS and welcomebackveterans.org for more information on both of these programs that are at the center of baseball this weekend.

"Seventy years ago, Lou Gehrig delivered an impassioned speech that has become part of American history," Commissioner Bud Selig said.