Final answer:
The author's purpose is to highlight Lou Gehrig's outstanding baseball career and his courageous battle with ALS, not to focus on breaking records or disease prevention.
Step-by-step explanation:
The author's purpose in writing the passage is option C: To describe Lou Gehrig's remarkable baseball career and show how he faced and accepted ALS. The focus is on Gehrig's contributions to baseball and his personal journey with a challenging disease rather than on breaking records or details about the disease itself. The narrative may encompass his sports achievements, the impact of his diagnosis on his life and career, and the legacy he left behind, serving both as an homage to Gehrig and as an inspiration to others facing adversity.