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