Cal Ripken Jr. is best known for playing in 2,632 consecutive games.
The Oriole great battled through pain, sickness and a host of other ailments suffered over the course of annual 162-game schedules en route to breaking Lou Gehrig?s former record of 2,130 consecutive games. But all of the pomp and circumstance surrounding that magical night at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1995 almost never happened.
“The Streak” nearly came to an end on June 6, 1993 during a home game against the Seattle Mariners. Seattle catcher Bill Hasselman charged the mound in the seventh inning after being hit by a pitch from former Oriole ace Mike Mussina. That set off a bench-clearing brawl that eventually led to eight suspensions. Ripken suffered a strained knee in the melee.
In an interview with The Examiner over the summer, Ripken said the day following the brawl, he didn?t think he would be able to play. With that thought, Ripken called his parents, Cal Sr. and Vi, who raced to his house shortly thereafter.
“It is kind of funny,” Ripken said. “They lived 45 minutes from my house and then exactly 45 minutes later they were knocking on my door. They must have immediately jumped in the car.”
After receiving ice treatments, which he then followed by walking up and down his driveway with hopes of getting his knee to loosen up, Ripken said he went to Camden Yards with little hope of being able to play.
Still, Ripken was in the lineup as the Orioles faced the Oakland Athletics that night. He played through the pain at shortstop, a position where the game allows few breaks on the field. That game against Oakland was no exception.
“The very first play I had in the first inning, there was a two-hopper hit to my right,” Ripken said. “It was a top-spin two-hopper, where you have to go over and catch it and then jam your right leg into the ground so you could plant to throw back the other way, and that was the one I hurt my knee on.”
But Ripken played on … as always.
