Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 25, 1995 TAG: 9506260121
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune
DATELINE: BALTIMORE LENGTH: Medium
Once he passes the New York Yankees Hall-of-Famer's consecutive-games-played record, he is likely to continue on and on, possibly for another full season, perhaps longer.
Today, Ripken will play in his 2,063rd consecutive game, 66 games short of Gehrig's heroic 2,130-game record. Barring injury, he will pass Gehrig in 10 weeks - at home Sept.6 against the California Angels.
To put the streak in perspective, consider that when it started on May 30, 1982, the Dow Jones average was at 819.54. Even more amazing is that the player with the next-highest consecutive streak is the White Sox's Frank Thomas, with a mere 164 games after Friday's action. This year alone, there have been 171 players put on the disabled list.
Ripken, of course, isn't one of them. He remains ever stoic, even as the nation's glare shines brighter as he nears the record.
What happens after that?
``It's hard to answer a question like that,'' Ripken said. ``I would like to think if and when that time comes, the next day will be the same as the day before and the day after it will be the same as the day before that. When the record is broken and no longer a consideration, I will come to the ballpark, put the uniform on, and want to play.''
At 35, in his 13th season without missing a game, there are no indications that Ripken is ready for a rocking chair. Going into the weekend, he was batting .285, eight points above his career average, and last Monday against the Yankees, he came within 10 to 15 feet of hitting for the cycle. He singled in the first inning, tripled in the third, doubled in the fifth and doubled again in the seventh with a warning-track drive to right-center field that bounced into the stands.
``I don't go out and play for the streak alone,'' Ripken said. ``I go out to play, period, because that's what I should do; that's what I was taught when I was growing up.''
``What it really comes down to, there's nobody better than Cal to put at shortstop,'' observed Jim Palmer, the Orioles' Hall of Fame pitcher and now a Baltimore broadcaster. ``He helps the ballclub even when he's tired.''
Ripken admits there are times when he is tired.
``No more than anybody else,'' he said. ``Maybe 10 times a year. Through experience I've found out I've had some of my best days when I was a little tired.''
Ripken is ``uncomfortable'' when sportswriters and fans refer to him as an ``iron man.''
``I don't perceive myself like that,'' he explained. ``I'm not invincible. I'm not made of iron.''
At 6-4 and 220 pounds, he is one of the tallest shortstops ever to play regularly in the big leagues. Because of his size, it was the belief of most baseball insiders that Ripken, who came up as a third baseman, wouldn't be a good shortstop.
``When I saw Cal play third base,'' Palmer recalled, ``I thought he was the second coming of Brooks Robinson. Just as soft hands, stronger and quicker arm. Brooks won 16 Gold Gloves and probably was the best third baseman of all time. But Cal was good enough to make the comparison valid.''
``He's a remarkable player at a difficult position,'' said Steve Boros, the Orioles' third base coach. ``The shortstop is in the middle of everything. When you think of all the ways he could have been injured, it makes the streak even more amazing.''
Yankees coach Willie Randolph is equally surprised.
``When you play shortstop, can you imagine all the bumps and bruises, especially when a guy plays every day? Just think of the guys who have tried to take him out on the double play,'' he said.
Randolph, who for more than a decade was the Yankees' regular second baseman, had second thoughts.
``He's twice my size. With him, it's like sliding into a tree trunk. With me, it was like knocking over a twig.''
Ripken broke into the big leagues in 1981, but the streak didn't begin until May 30 of the following season, when he replaced Floyd Rayford at third base in the second game of a double-header. Two years later Earl Weaver, then the Orioles' manager, made him the club's full-time shortstop.
``Earl was always an offensive guy,'' recalled Jim Henneman of the Baltimore Sun, the only active baseball writer traveling with the Orioles when Ripken arrived.
``Earl wasn't impressed with the slick-fielding shortstops who couldn't hit. He always said, `Catch the ball and throw it straight and nothing bad can happen.' Earl wanted a shortstop who could hit a three-run homer. Cal was the perfect fit.''
Elrod Hendricks, who played briefly with the Cubs during the Leo Durocher era, has been a Baltimore coach since 1978. He is the only Oriole who has witnessed the entire streak.
``I remember when he got hit in the head by a pitch,'' Hendricks recalled. ``It must have been his rookie year. He wanted to come back the next day. Right then, I knew he was special, that he had great desire to play.'' ``In the last few years I've heard fans say, `All he's thinking about is the record.' And I'm saying to myself, `Who wouldn't love to have a ballplayer who comes out and is ready to play every day.?`''
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB