Lou Gehrig Starts His Consecutive Games Streak June 1, 1925

On This Day in Baseball History June 1, 1925: The man who would be known as the Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig started his consecutive games streak by being inserted as a pinch hitter by New York Yankees manager Miller Huggins for shortstop Paul "Pee Wee" Wanninger in a 5-3 loss to the Washington Senators. Similar to how Cal Ripken Jr made an inauspicious start to his streak, Gehrig would bat for Wanninger in the eight inning against future Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson and deliver a soft flyball out to left field.

Up to that point in his first two seasons with the Yankees, Gehrig was nothing more than a pinch hitter and defensive replacement. Gehrig only appeared in 23 games during the 1923 and 1924 seasons combined. Circumstances beyond his control would lead to Gehrig's baseball immortality being cemented. Many people believe that the streak started the next day on June 2, 1925 when as per legend, Wally Pipp asked to take a day off. Gehrig stepped in for Pipp at first and didn't give the bag up until the day that he took himself out of the lineup thirteen years later on May 2, 1939. Just as Steve Buscemi says as Nucky Thompson in the pilot episode of Boardwalk Empire: Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, the story of Gehrig's rise and Pipp's fall makes for a good story but its not entirely true.

Jonathan Eig in his book Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig describes the events that went into Gehrig becoming an everyday player for the Yankees:

Huggins was frustrated. The season was only two months old, yet his team seemed to be giving up. Players had been missing curfew, practicing halfheartedly, mouthing off in the dugout, and drinking too much. Pipp wasn't giving him problems off the field, but on the field the first baseman was a disaster. Huggins had already dropped Pipp from the fourth spot in the batting order to the sixth, and Pipp had not responded. He was batting .244 with only three home runs and twenty-three runs batted in. During the last three weeks of May, his batting average was an anemic .181. After the loss to Walter Johnson, Huggins decided to try a new lineup. Maybe the veterans would respond to the threat of losing their jobs. He benched not only Pipp but also catcher Wally Schang and second baseman Aaron Ward. (Page 65)

After starting at first for ten seasons for the Yankees, Pipp suffered a head injury during batting practice a month later which resulted in a fractured skull that limited his playing time during the remainder of the 1925 season. Pipp's contract would be sold to the Cinicnnati Reds for the 1926 season and would retire after the 1928 season.

Gehrig as we know became a cornerstone for the New York Yankees become a Hall of Famer as part of a formidable one-two punch with not only Babe Ruth but also Joe DiMaggio. It would seem that the illness that bears his name was the only thing that could stop the Iron Horse.

Here is the boxscore from the June 2, 1925 edition of the New York Times for the June 1, 1925 game between the Washington Senators and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium:

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

For Further Reading:
- Click Here for Lou Gehrig's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click Here for Wally Pipp's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click Here for the boxscore for the June 1, 1925 game between the Washington Senators vs The New York Yankees from Baseball Reference.com
- Wally Pipp: A son's tale about the start of Gehrig's consecutive games streak by Chris Anderson
from the Sarasota Herald Tribune dated April 22, 2009

Cal Ripken Jr Starts His Iron Man Streak May 30, 1982

On This Day in History May 30, 1982: Baltimore Orioles rookie third baseman Cal Ripken Jr., took the field in front of 21,632 fans at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore against the Toronto Blue Jays, for the first of what would become his record setting 2,632 games played in a row. Ripken would go 0-2 with a walk and a strikeout. Not a very auspicious start to his "Iron Man" streak.

Ripken would continue to make history in 1982 when Orioles manager Earl Weaver moved him from third base to shortstop. In doing so, the position of shortstop would forever be changed form a "good glove, no hit" position to a position where both defense and offense became the norm. Ripken would go on to win the 1982 American League Rookie of the Year Award with a slashline of .264/.317/.475 with 28 homeruns and 93 RBI.

Ripken would reach the mark of 2131 consecutive games played set by the Iron Horse Lou Gehrig in 1939 on September 6, 1995 in front of the hometown crowd at Orioles Park at Camden Yards. Ripken's streak would come to an end when he voluntarily took himself out of the lineup on September 19, 1998.

Ripken would retire at the end of the 2001 season and to no one's surprise, was inducted to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007 garnering 98.53% of the vote (537/545 ballots) for third best all-time after Tom Seaver (98.84%) and Nolan Ryan (98.79%).

Though in theory players today are bigger, faster and stronger than players of yesteryear, I don't see anyone being durable enough to play in enough consecutive games to reach the lofty goal of 2,632 games. What do you think folks. Anyone want to take a stab at a guess?

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

For Further Reading:
- Cal Ripken Jr's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- The Boxscore from the Toronto Blue Jays vs. Baltimore Orioles game from May 30, 1982 courtesy of Baseball Reference.com
- Ripken breaks record for consecutive games played from History.com
- Streak Scene 2,131: Ripken Passes Gehrig from the Baltimore Sun Archives website
- It's Over: Ripken Sits Out After 2,632 Games by Richard Justice of the Washington Post dated September 21, 1998
- Calling his own number, Ripken ends the streak by Roch Kubatko of the Baltimore Sun dated September 27, 1998
- Baseball Hall of Fame BBWAA Voting Percentages from Baseball Almanac.com

Cal Ripken Jr Becomes MLB's Iron Man September 6, 1995

On this day in Baseball History September 6, 1995: In front of a sold out crowd at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, MD, Cal Ripken plays in his 2,131st consecutive game breaking Lou Gehrig's Major League Iron Man record of 2,130 games that stood since 1939. Here is footage of Cal Ripken's record breaking moment (19-years later it still gives me goosebumps):

Many baseball sources point to this event as being the catalyst for the healing of the game after the 1994 strike cancelled that season and the 1994 World Series.

Ripken would break the world record for consecutive games played by breaking Sachio Kinagusa's record of 2,215 consecutive games played on June 14, 1996 at Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City (Kinagusa passed Gehrig on June 13, 1987). The Royals honored not only Ripken but Kinagusa at that game when Ripken broke Kinagusa's record. Kinagusa played for the Hiroshima Carp of the Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB).

Cal Ripken and Sachio Kinugasa at Kauffman Stadium in 1996.

Ripken would play in 2,632 consecutive games before sitting out a September game at Yankee Stadium in 1998. Ripken would retire in 2001 and would be inducted to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007 with 98.5% of the vote (537/545 ballots).

In this age of athletes being bigger, faster stronger will we ever see anyone come close to Cal Ripken's 2,632 consecutive games played record? I personally can't see it happening. Generally players take more time off due to injures and managerial decision then in days before. Players today are an investment by the teams and many times they don't want to risk their investment by having players "play through" injuries. So we'll have to wait and see if we ever see a streak in the range of Gehrig, Kinagusa and Ripken's.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

For Further Reading:
- Click here to access Cal Ripken Jr's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click here to access the article 15 Years Ago: Cal Ripken Jr. Passes Lou Gehrig by Dean Hybl from the Baltimore Sports Then and Now website dated September 05, 2010
- Click here to access the article Beyond Gehrig, Japanese ironman in world of his own by John Eisenberg from the Baltimore Sun website dated July 23, 1995
- Click here to access Sachio Kinugasa's career NPB statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click here to access the article Man Ripken passed was unlikely hero Kinugasa's U.S. blood made hime target in Japan by Masaru Ikei and John B Holway from the Baltimore Sun website dated June 23, 1996
- Click here to access the article Cal Ripken Jr. expects good things from Royals in second half of season by Pete Grathoff on the Kansas City Star website dated July 18, 2014