Not for this fella, apparently.
If it seemed to baseball fans of the 1980s and 1990s that Baltimore Oriole Cal Ripken Jr. was always in the lineup … well, that’s because he was!
For 16 consecutive seasons Ripken was either at shortstop or third base for the Orioles. On September 6, 1995, he surpassed the consecutive games played mark established 56 seasons earlier by Lou Gehrig (2,130) when the Iron Horse was famously sidelined due to his physical struggle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) now more commonly known as Lou Gehrig Disease. Like he did the previous two games against the visiting California Angels, Ripken homered; this time following his achievement’s celebration. The streak began on May 30, 1992 in Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Ripken’s streak came to an end at 2,632 consecutive games just over three seasons later when he took himself out of the lineup on September 20, 1998 during the Orioles’ home finale against the New York Yankees. He was enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007; his first year of eligibility.
Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.