Cal Ripken's 2,632 Games
Baseball's most durable star and his streak. Cal Ripken Jr. played 2,632 straight games for the Baltimore Orioles from 1982 to 1998, breaking Lou Gehrig's record that had stood for 56 years.
Cal Ripken Jr., 1996: Joe Shlabotnik, CC BY 2.0
Lou Gehrig's mark
Lou Gehrig, the Yankees first baseman, played 2,130 consecutive games between 1925 and 1939. His streak ended only when he became ill with the disease that now often carries his name, ALS. For decades, his record was considered one of the safest in sports, because injuries, illness and rest days make playing every single game almost impossible.
Cal Ripken Jr. grew up in a baseball family. His father, Cal Sr., was a coach and manager in the Orioles organisation for decades, and his brother Billy also played in the majors.
Showing up every day
Ripken's streak began on 30 May 1982. He won Rookie of the Year that season, the American League MVP in 1983, when Baltimore won the World Series, and another MVP in 1991. At 6 feet 4 inches he was unusually tall for a shortstop, and he helped change what teams looked for at the position.
He played through sprained ankles, a twisted knee and countless bruises. Managers came and went, and still the name Ripken was written into the lineup every day.
His brother Billy played second base beside him for several seasons, and in 1987 their father managed them both in Baltimore, the first time a father had managed two sons at the same time in the majors. Cal was a 19-time All-Star and won two Gold Gloves at shortstop.
2,131
On 6 September 1995, at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Ripken played his 2,131st consecutive game. When the game became official in the middle of the fifth inning, the crowd stood and cheered for more than 20 minutes. Teammates pushed him out of the dugout, and he jogged a lap around the warning track, shaking hands with fans. He also hit a home run that night.
Fans later voted it the most memorable moment in baseball history in a poll run by the league.
Ending it himself
Ripken kept going for three more years. On 20 September 1998 he told his manager he wanted to sit out, ending the streak at 2,632 games. He finished his career with 3,184 hits and 431 home runs and entered the Hall of Fame in 2007 with one of the highest vote shares ever. His streak is still the definition of reliability.
He later started the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation in his father's memory, which builds youth ballfields and runs programmes for young people across the country.
- Cal Ripken Jr., 1996: Joe Shlabotnik, CC BY 2.0
- Honoured at Camden Yards: Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0
Text written by Shining Champion.
