Flashback: Hall of Famer Ripken Jr. becomes baseball's new Iron Man
There are streaks, and then there is "The Streak."
On Sept. 6, 1995, Cal Ripken officially became baseball's new Iron Man, playing in his 2,131st consecutive game to surpass Lou Gehrig's mark. When the game became official after the top of the fifth inning, the iconic number turned on the wall of the B&O Warehouse behind the right-field bleachers at Camden Yards.
Ripken, who homered in the fourth inning, greeted his family and then took a much-deserved victory lap to acknowledge the cheering fans.
Ripken, who spent his entire 21-season major-league career with the Orioles, retired after the 2001 season with a .276 career batting average, 431 homers and 1,695 RBI. The 1982 AL Rookie of the Year and two-time AL MVP (1983, 1991) was a 19-time All-Star, an eight-time Silver Slugger and a two-time Gold Glove winner.
No one could have known that when Ripken took the field May 30, 1982, he wouldn't miss a game until he removed himself from the lineup before a Sept. 20, 1998, game against the New York Yankees. Turned out, he needed a break after 2,632 games.
Not surprisingly, Ripken was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2007 — earning a whopping 98.5 percent of the vote.
