Cal Ripken Jr.: Baseball's Ironman and His Legendary Career

On September sixth, nineteen ninety five, cal Ripkin does something that many thought would never happen and what is one of the most challenging records to beat the Ironman record becoming baseball's Iron Man, beating Lou Grick for the most games played in a row. But he was more than just a player that played a long time, just like Luke Gyrick was. He was a Hall of Fame player as well. In a Baltimore Orioles Icon, they were going to dive into cal Ripkin and how he became the iron Man of baseball today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History, I mean than Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day. And today's trivic question to listen out for is how did cal Ripken injure his knee that jeopardize his story? Now? Cal Ripkin was born in Maryland in nineteen teen sixty and at the time, his dad, cal Ripkin Senior, was a coach for the Baltimore Orioles, foreshadowing what would become of Calverpkin Junior's life. As his dad was a coach of baseball, he grew up around baseball and loved it. Him and his brother Billy actually were both on the Aberdeen High School baseball team and made one of the best high school teams as cal Ripkin Junior grew up to be six ' five and became a five tool player and actually had a success in high school as a pitcher, but when he wasn't pitching, he was playing shortstop and led his team to a state championship where he pitched a complete game to win the state title and the Baltimore Orioles drafted Ripken in the second round of the nineteen seventy eight draft, number forty eight overall, and he made the decision to go straight from high school to the pros because after talking with his family, he knew he wanted to play baseball for a career, but if it didn't work out, college would always be there later in life. Now he was drafted both as a pitcher and a shortstop, but the Oilers didn't see him as a professional pitcher and focused more on him being a shortstop in the minor leagues, as he was also a great hitter and would quickly move up through the ranks in the minor league system, and on August tenth, nineteen eighty one, would play his very first game for the Baltimore Orioles, and he did so as a pitch runner. Now he struggled his first year, batting only one eighty two, but the next year he would make the transition to third base and would and would start a streak on May thirtieth that would lead him to be an Iron Man, and later on that season he would get moved to shortstop, where he would play most of his career, and it wasn't long before he became a success in the major leagues, as in the nineteen eighty three season, he was an All Star and became the AL MVP, hitting three eighteen with twenty seven homers in just his second season after being named Rookie of the Year, and that same year, he would lead the Orioles to win the World Series, his only World Series title in just his second season. So all by the age of twenty five, he had been named an MVP and one World Series championship and started a streak which would make him an icon in baseball, and he would continue his luck as before the nineteen eighty four season, he signed a four year contract worth almost about a million dollars a year, and that season he would hit over three hundred again with twenty seven home runs, and just before the nineteen eighty seventh season, Cal Ripkins Senior would be named manager of the Orioles, becoming the first manager to manage two sons on the team, as Cole's brother Billy Ripkin joined the Majors that year as well. Now, during this time, while his dad was the coach, the Orioles didn't have a whole lot of success on the field, and by nineteen ninety three would be the first time that his dad wouldn't also be part of the team, as he would be let go after the fall after the nineteen ninety two season, and this was the year that his streak was in question, as on June sixth, his knee during a brawl against the Seattle Mariners and he didn't think he'd be able to play the next day, but woke up feeling fine and continued his streak, and on August first, nineteen ninety four, he played in his two thousandth consecutive game versus the Minnesota Twins, and this is when the league started to count down. Was he ever going to catch Gerrick, whose record had stood for over fifty years, and within two years he would go on to pass Luke Eyrick. On September sixth, nineteen ninety five, was one of the most watched games in ESPN history, as everyone wanted to see cal Ripkin pass Luke Yrick in a game versus the Los Angeles Angels. Cow had all his family there. The President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were at the game, and after the fifth inning, everyone started to cheer because when the fifth inning happened, it meant the game was official and cal Ripkin had broken the record, and the Orioles honored Luke Gyrick by selling special box seats, giving the proceeds to John Hopkinsumer Diversity to study lou Gehrick's disease, and for twenty two minutes the game was stopped, giving Ripkin a standing ovation, as you can see a memorable sign out of the right field of two one, three one showing that he had broken the record. It was a great moment for baseball, helped raise the awareness. It was one of the most viewed games, and it kind of harkened back to lou Gehrick and helped grow als research and made us think what would have been if lu Gerrick did not get sick, and Ripkin gave a speech. Now it's nowhere to the point iconic as Luke Gayrick's, but he said tonight, I stand here overwhelmed as my name is linked with the great and courageous Luke Gyrick, And just that first sentence there just shows his adoration for the game and what it meant that he broke this record. And he wasn't done playing, as he continued to be successful and an All Star for multiple years, and then for the fine of five years of his career, he actually moved back to third base as he had lost a little bit of step with age, but allowed him to stay on the field and continue his great play. He would finally finish his career being a nineteen time All Star, winning the World Series in nineteen eighty three, a two time ALMVP in nineteen eighty three and nineteen eighty one, and was a Silver Slugger meaning he was the best hitter for his position eight times and would finish his career with two thousand, six hundred and thirty two consecutive games. And he played his entire career with Baltimore, where they would retire his number eight Jersey and would be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in two thousand and seven and be part of the Major League Baseball All Sinsory Team. So, just like Luke Garrick, he wasn't just a player that played a lot. We covered the NBA iron Man, A C. Green, who was a role journey player throughout his career, but Cal Ripken was anything but that, as he was one of the best players to ever play the game and will be forever known as Baseball's iron Man as his record will probably never be broken in the way the game is played today. I want to thank you for listening to today's Daily Sports History. It means a lot to me. If you want to reach out to us, if you have a topic you want us to cover, you can do that at Daily Sportsistory dot com and slash contact and you can send us an email or leave us a voicemail. We'd love to hear from you and maybe include your information on the show. And did you catch the answer to today's trivia question, how did Cal Ripken injure his knee that jeopardize his streak? And the answer is he was in a dugout clearing brawl with the Seattle Mariners and bruised his knee, but luckily it healed for him to continue his streak.