September 6, 1995: Cal Ripken reached 2,131!

Yes, it’s hard to believe that it was so many years ago.   I remember watching the nationally televised game and feeling good for Cal and the game of baseball.    Ripken was a great player and his streak healed some of the wounds from the 1994 strike.    

My first memory of Cal Ripken goes back to ’81.   It was the strike shortened season and I caught a game on TV with Ripken at shortstop.   The O’s missed out on the post season that year.    They failed to win the  “first half championship” because of a loss on what turned out to be the last game of that split season.    They did not play well and did not qualify for the “second half championship”.    It was a season of bad timing for the O’s!

Ripken opened 1982 at third and hit a home run on opening day.   The O’s and Brewers went down to the last weekend. The two teams were tied after 161 games and the AL East was literally decided on the last day.   It was great baseball but a tough ending for the O’s!

The rest is history.  He was MVP in ’83 and the O’s won the World Series. He also started the “game streak” that went on until ’98.   He repeated as MVP in ’91.

Unfortunately, Ripken played in bad Oriole teams for most of the streak. Yet, he was out there every day playing and putting some good numbers, such as 431 Hrs, 1,695 RBI and 3,184 hits.

Congratulations to a great guy and thanks for the memories.

P.S.: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

The Streak: Lou Gehrig, Cal Ripken Jr., and Baseball’s Most Historic Record… https://t.co/UK2UNfhZMH via @amazon

— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) August 30, 2017