Textbook:

Public SpeakingStrategies For Success, Seventh Edition

David Zarefsky

ISBN-13: 978-0-205-85726-5

Description

In this Lesson, you will analyze the structure ofa short speech, Lou Gehrig’s “Farewell to Baseball,”.

Instructions

Please be sure to complete in a single Worddocument.

• You will assessa short speech in terms of its organization and structure.

Part I: Analyze the “Farewell to Baseball”Speech

On July 4, 1939, Yankee First Baseman Lou Gehriggave a short speech of farewell during retirement ceremonies atYankee Stadium in New York City. In terms of the rhetoricalsituation, the speaker produced a fitting response that eliminatedthe exigence in that situation. In any ceremony, of course, it iscustomary for the guest of honor to make a few remarks and thespeaker eliminates that exigence just by saying something. LouGehrig, however, perceived an additional exigence: sadness amongbaseball fans. He reduced that exigence in giving his speech.

A rhetorical analysis of the speech begins withthe historical context: Lou Gehrig had set a record for the number ofconsecutive games played in U.S. major-league baseball, but hesuddenly quit playing for health reasons. The occasion was “LouGehrig Day,” a ceremony held at the stadium prior to a game tocommemorate the career of the retiring ballplayer. The audienceincluded spectators, other players, team and league officials,workers, and radio listeners. The speaker was a professional athletewho, not as comfortable with sportswriters as his teammate Babe Ruthhad been, had not planned to speak until his wife convinced him thathe should. The speech was short, extemporaneous, and reflectedgratitude. But this only recounts the facts about the speech withoutaccounting for the constraints and opportunities from each elementthat the speaker was able to use to make the speech a fittingresponse that reduced the exigence.

In this rhetorical situation, the occasionprovided the speaker with constraints and resources. He was obligedto speak, given the conventions of such occasions, and was in uniformat a public gathering in a place where people were used to seeinghim. As such, the occasion requires a somewhat formal ceremonialspeech that reflects on the shared values of the community in apublic, rather than private, gathering. In a familiar setting, theoccasion gave a somewhat shy man a comfortable space in which tospeak. The audience would expect a speech that was short, graceful,and respectful of shared values that would address their feelingsappropriately but not overshadow the baseball game. The audienceprovided respectful attention and a heightened emotional register forthe speaker, which gave his speech a purpose: he spoke to eliminatethe emotional exigence of sadness. The speaker, who had attendedColumbia University in the engineering program (on a baseballscholarship), was an uncomfortable public speaker, but he had astrong sense of responsibility. His intelligence and determinationsustained him in a time that was difficult personally,professionally, and publicly. The speech had to be short, emotionalwithout being weepy, prepared but heartfelt, and appropriate to theoccasion in its ideas, structure, and language. The speech drew onthe resources and accommodated the constraints of each element in therhetorical situation to be a fitting response that achieved itspurpose.

Lou Gehrig’s “Farewell to Baseball” providesus with an opportunity to consider the critical roles of speakers,citizen-critics, and rhetorical critics. As speakers, we can learnfrom the speech, as it is an example of several of the principles ofpublic speaking that we have developed in this course; we canconsider these whenever we speak on ceremonial occasions. Ascitizen-critics, we can listen for the shared values of the communityreflected in the speech, consider their merits, and think about howwe would respond as the next speaker to attempt a fitting response,either reinforcing and extending the values or modifying and revisingthem depending on the new exigence. As rhetorical critics, we cananalyze the speech itself; for this lesson, we will focus on thestructure of the speech.

After you viewand read the speech (Links to an external site.)Links to anexternal site., identify the ideas and valuesthat make up the propositional content of the speech. Then, considerthe structure. The speech does not follow all of the advice given bythe Zarefsky textbook, of course; ceremonial speeches often privilegeresonance of ideas over clarity of expression, and Gehrig’s speechdoes not contain all of the functions of an introduction, conclusion,or transition that you will be expected to use in your speech—justmost of them. In your rhetorical situation, the constraints andopportunities for your speech assignment include using the strategiesand tactics for structure in the textbook. Using those strategies,analyze the structure of Lou Gehrig’s “Farewell to Baseball” inan essay of 300–400 words or one to two double-spaced pages, inTimes New Roman with 12-point font and indented paragraphs. Include aword count in your submission. All papers should be Word-processed,with sources cited in the style you are most familiar with (such asAPA, MLA, or Chicago), if you use scholarly research to support yourclaims. All papers must be free from typographical and spellingmistakes. Errors of grammar, syntax, and composition affect theassignment grade.

Criteria:

Valuesexpressed in “Farewell to Baseball” 5 points

Arrangement of “Farewell toBaseball” 5 points

Functions of Introduction and Conclusion in“Farewell to Baseball” 5 points

How does “Farewell to Baseball” structuremanage constraints and resources? 5 points