Phil Flach of Effingham will throw out the first pitch at the Cubs' game against the Athletics on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, putting a local face on Major League Baseball's Lou Gehrig Day observance. The game falls on June 2, the date Lou Gehrig died in 1941 at age 37 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

MLB is using all games played Tuesday to draw attention to ALS, and Flach's appearance gives that effort a personal edge. He has been diagnosed with ALS and will be hosted by Cubs TV broadcaster John "Boog" Sciambi, whose own life has been touched by the disease through the death of a friend.

The date carries its own weight because June 2 has become the league-wide marker for honoring Gehrig and the people living with the illness that took his life. At Wrigley Field, the Cubs' game against the Athletics becomes part of that wider campaign while also centering an Effingham man who is facing the disease himself.

That public recognition sits beside a quieter push at home. Karen Flach is working to create awareness of ALS, reaching out to people in the community who have been touched by it and directing attention to resources and efforts such as Leon's Legacy, which raises funds for caregivers of people dealing with ALS. "I have made it my mission," she said.

The event brings the cause into a big-league spotlight, but it also leaves the harder question in place: how much awareness can one night really generate for a disease that changes everything for the people living with it. For Flach, the next moment that matters is simple and immediate — Tuesday night's first pitch at Wrigley, where the cheers will carry a message far beyond the scoreboard.