Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 6, 1995 TAG: 9509060155
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BALTIMORE LENGTH: Medium
Surrounded by players, umpires and fans who would not stop cheering, baseball's reluctant hero took his place in the history book Tuesday night, tying Lou Gehrig's hallowed record of playing 2,130 consecutive games.
He even punctuated the night by hitting a home run and making a play for the final out in the Baltimore Orioles' 8-0 win over the California Angels.
Ripken had asked in advance that the game not be stopped in his honor. That was about the only thing that did not go his way all evening at Camden Yards.
The standing ovations began even before the first pitch. And when the game became official in the fifth inning and Ripken reached a record once considered beyond approach, it was a chilling scene as the spotlighted 10-foot numbers on the B&O Warehouse beyond right field were flipped over to read 2130.
The ceremony brought the loudest cheer yet, a 5 minute, 20 second standing ovation that included every player from the Orioles and Angels, and all four umpires.
Ripken appeared to dab away tears from the corner of his eyes, and even three curtain calls could not quiet the crowd of 46,804, including many who have seen him grow up in the area.
As if to prove he deserved such attention, Ripken went out and hit a home run the next inning, one of his three hits.
And the whole event was merely a prelude to what's coming tonight, when Ripken is set to break the record.
When Ripken reaches that mighty place, he will hold a mark that many thought was so unattainable that Gehrig's plaque at Yankee Stadium, erected shortly after he died in 1941, praises him as a man ``whose amazing record of 2,130 consecutive games should stand for all time.''
Ripken matched the mark when Tuesday's game became official, and a flood of black and orange balloons was unleashed as soon as the Angels were retired in the top of the fifth inning.
A cartoon of Ripken and Gehrig was shown on the center-field scoreboard, and Ripken acknowledged the prolonged cheers by waving to all parts of the park. He got another standing ovation when he trotted out to his position at shortstop to start the sixth, and shook hands with second base umpire Greg Kosc.
While Ripken contends the streak that started May 30, 1982, is merely a product of showing up every day to work - and some luck, since Ripken never broke a bone in his life - others clearly recognized its significance.
President Clinton and Vice President Gore were set to see the record-breaker; never before have the nation's top two executives attended the same game outside Washington.
They were to be joined by another sellout crowd that has known of Ripken since he grew up about a half-hour away, and has seen time turn his hair from floppy and brown to thin and gray.
And for the first time in major-league history a baseball bearing a player's name was being used in a real game. Specially made for the occasion, the balls used for games 2,130 and 2,131 were stamped with Ripken's name and a logo commemorating the event.
In another first, the American League approved the addition of seats on the field for a regular-season game. The revenue from those 260 box seats, costing $5,000 each Wednesday, will go to charities, including one benefiting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the disease that killed Gehrig and often is known by his name.
Ripken knows how Gehrig died, and knows how many straight games the Yankees Hall of Fame first baseman played. Other than that, though, Ripken has avoided learning too much about the man he has chased, afraid it might change his approach.
In fact, Ripken has never even seen ``Pride of the Yankees'' from start to finish. As for the many stories and pictures of Gehrig that fans send him, Ripken, 35, files them away, saying someday it will be time to appreciate them.
On Tuesday night, though, it was time for the two of them to stand together. Before the game, tape of Gehrig's tearful farewell speech was played on the scoreboard and then Earl Weaver, Ripken's first manager in the majors, threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Ripken.
It was Weaver who, 27 games into the streak, moved Ripken from third base to shortstop, a move sharply criticized at the time. That was before Ripken went on to become a 13-time All-Star, hit more home runs than any other shortstop and set nearly a dozen fielding records.
``What is happening here is better than winning the state lottery,'' Weaver said.
Several local celebrities were in the crowd, including Colts Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas, singer and Maryland native Joan Jett and former Orioles star Ken Singleton.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB