European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 09, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse By Patrick Reusse Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune a reporter visited the newspaper office tuesday and took a scroll through the sports news Sprewell a guard for the Golden state warriors was arrested for driving after revocation and for roughing up a police officer. Bim Fiedler the third string quarterback for the Philadelphia eagles exchanged insults with several Loudmouth in a sports bar then was jumped and beaten. It was still Early. The reporter did not have time to wait around for More crime news from sports Worlof. There was a plane to catch there was some history to be watched Mark this Down As another amazing fact surrounding the Streak since he started playing every game on the Baltimore orioles schedule on May 30, 1982, Cal Ripken or. Has never had an embarrassing headline not for pulling a teammate away from a drunk in a bar not for weaving suspiciously. Along a Roadway. Jim Henneman a longtime Baltimore baseball writer said the Only headlines he has made away from the Field have been for his charitable Baltimore is one of the largest Small towns in America. The people there def More than cheer for their sports heroes. They embrace them. In Minnesota we had fran Tarkenton and Harmon Killebrew. Be enjoyed their excellence. They did not become lifelong obsessions for minnesotans As. Did Johnny Unitas and Brooks Robinson with Baltimore s older generations. The two areas Are again blessed with _ athletic heroes who have distinguished themselves Over time. Minnesota has Kirb Puckett Baltimore has Ripken. Puckett As with Ripken has never embarrassed himself or the fans. 7 we Admire Kirby for that. We enjoy him for his wonderful personality. We Are grateful Tor. The Talent and the class " he brings to the twins whether it is a championship season or a last place e. We Admire and enjoy and express gratitude but we Are not As protective of 7puckett As Baltimore is of Ripken. A few years Back Ripken was in one of his dreadful slumps a Minnesota sportswriter watched him flail away helplessly at outside pitches during a series in Baltimore s memorial stadium. There were hundreds of games to be played before Ripken would be a serious challenger to Lou Gehrig s record Streak of 2,130 straight games. The sportswriter decided to try for a laugh at Ripken s expense. Citing the stretch of futility the sportswriter named Ripken to the first and last annual All washed up team. Cal Ripken gets a push for a Victory Lap after breaking the Mark wednesday the reaction was instructive. Jim Palmer flipped out on the orioles television broadcast. The pro Cal anti Media mail poured in from Baltimore. It was discovered that you will get less of a reaction poking fun at Kirby Puckett in Minnesota than you will get in poking fun at Cal Ripken in Minnesota. Ripken s Streak has been a deadly _ serious subject in Baltimore for years. Much of that feeling is said to go Back to the Colts leaving in March 1984.after that Baltimore became As tied to its or jolts As a Small town is to its High school " 7" v r the people crowded into Oriole games even As the team started to. Decline. Camden Yards was built to guarantee that the orioles would be there forever. And Ripken s Pursuit of Gehrig became More important there 7 than outsiders can imagine. More important than Pete Rose s Chase of the career hit record in his Hometown of Cincinnati. The orioles refused to thy 7 replacement baseball because it might end Ripken s Streak. Once the schedule was set for a delayed season the orioles lobbied with the american league to ensure the record would be set in Baltimore. Wednesday the anxiety finally disappeared. Ripken broke Gehrig s record of 2,130 straight games. The night before the orioles brought Back Earl Weaver the feisty fun Loving legendary manager to throw out the first bail. ". Weaver was Ripken s first big league manager. The general manager Hank Ripken and Angels after breaking it., Peters traded Doug Decinces so the 6-foot-4 Ripken could play third base. I did t want him at third Weaver said. We had a Guy at Short. What was his name Bonner yeah that was it. Put it this Way we were having problems the Streak did Start with Ripken playing third base. A month later Weaver ignored Peters and put Ripken at shortstop where he has stayed from july 1, 1982, to immortality. Cal takes a rip but pops up in his first at Bat on record setting wednesday. Our team needed him at shortstop Weaver said. It was no stroke of Genius by me. What i wanted was a Guy i knew that with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth. .1 wanted the Ball hit to this kid/17 Ripken was the kid 22, Skinny with Brown hair falling onto his forehead. Weaver knew Ripken would be a shortstop who wanted the grounder hit to him with two outs in the ninth. Weaver knew that because of what he 7 had seen years earlier from at Catcher named Cal Ripken or. I managed rip or. In i960 at Appleton wis Weaver said. Our bus Driver got sick so rip senior took that Job too. He would catch a doubleheader drive 400 Miles through the night to the next town and then play again that night. If you Ever wanted to Call somebody nails it was the father. He was that Iron will was passed along to the oldest of three Ripken sons. This is something fantastic. Something i Don t think any generation will Ever see again said Weaver. You can t explain Cal s Streak. He is a Man grand feet the new England athletic shoe company of Boston issued a report estimating the amount of ground Caf Ripken has travelled during his Streak. The company plans to give Ripken a free lifetime Supply of walking and running shoes for his record setting feat. ,./ ". As for Ripken s feet new England athletic calculated that Ripken covered 288.4 Miles walking from the dugout to the plate and 841.4 Miles going from the dugout to shortstop. On his hits Ripken travelled 26.2 Miles on singles 15 Miles on doubles 2.1 triples and 21.9 Miles on Home runs. Add 30.3 Miles for walks and 190 Miles running the bases making outs and advancing on teammates hits and Ripken is believed to have travelled during the Streak 1,414.6 Miles the distance of three round trips from Camden Yards to Cooperstown no which will be Ripken s eventual destination. Hartford courant Phil Jackman Baltimore Sun Scripps Howard news service. Is try As they might on the news Magazine show sixty minutes theother night they could t get Paul Newman to admit that Talent had a whole lot to do with his hugely successful film career spanning four decades. Luck he said and maybe some Good pal Robert Redford said Paul really does t know How Good he in some ways Cal Ripken does t really know How Good he is either of he knows he can play baseball a lot better than most but for All that other stuff shucks t weren t nothing. Until recently he had t an inkling of How special he has been for years showing up giving it his Best carrying himself impeccably and always putting the team first. As the old Yankee Tommy Henrich whose career took in the last two seasons of Lou Gehrig s reign through the end of the Joe Dimaggio Era said this is a fantastic athletic feat. Everybody is supposed to go All out every Day. If you were to Tell me the Guy who would break Gehrig s record would be a shortstop i would be told you you were out of your mind. The Law of averages took a big beating All out every Day what a laudable if extremely old fashioned \ concept. Cal has been doing it forever. And he appears being _ dubbed a hero for what comes naturally Blue eyes hair like Newman. Words beginning with a Al that haven11 been used on. These pages yet Calcium As in Mil caldron where no. 8 has resided for months no Wcalvert As in lord Baltimore calamitous what this season would qualify As had it not been for the Streak calcification what May happen before he misses a game ,. Calumny Here never. It s too late now but in keeping with the old fashioned values Ripken has always brought to baseball it s strange a nickname was never Hung on him. About 80 percent of old ballplayers had nicknames Iron horse the mechanical Man Bambino big and Little Poison dizzy and Daffy Rube Pepper the wild Hoss of the Osage the Only Nolan Yankee Clipper Shotgun cuckoo the Little professor the Arkansas humming Bird Etc. One of the great newspaper leads concerning Lou Gehrig s consecutive. Games Streak was authored by new York columnist Vic Ziegel Lou Gehrig Kelly Ripken and husband Cal amid the special moment in Baltimore. Played in 2,130 consecutive bal Garnes for the Yankees. Why " As we moved into an Era of Guys not being Able to go for much More than a month Ziegel sought out the answers to where endurance desire consistency and sustained ability whatever had gone. Alas except As in the cases of Billy Williams Steve Garvey a few More and Cal,.there were none to be found. R a Coupie of weeks before Ripken took Over at shortstop in late May 1982, Trade rumours were flying concerning Jim Palmer for to fill the team s greatest need according to then general manager Hank Peters a Guy to play Between second base and third base. of the Kansas City royals and Bucky Dent of the new York. Yankees were mentioned prominently. The orioles record was " 15-20 at the time. _ _.7 it was after Ripken has played third. Base for a flock of games that the Dandy Little manager Earl Weaver doped out 7 that the answer to the club s greatest need was standing about what 45 feet away at the hot Corner. A Fine move. Spunky. It just could get you to Cooperstown someday on one of the three famed monuments in Yankee stadium the one dedicated to Gehrig the inscription includes his amazing Streak of 2,130 consecutive games should stand for All Well to some 56 years is All time besides changing the wording slightly won t be any big Deal. Here Are the names of some Hall of Farmers who did not play in 2,131 games in their careers much less play them consecutively Joe Dimaggio 1,736joe Cronin 2,124yogi Berra 2,1 20george Kell 1,622ralph Kmer 1,472hack Wilson 1,348 and some of the people Ripken i guts to catch in the near future. Duke Snider 2,143johnny Bench 2,158rogers Hornsby 2,259frankie triste 2,311 and Jimmie Foxx 2,317 Al Michaels one of the great baseball broadcasters Ever who unfortunately does t get much Chance to practice these about the Streak ending up overshadowing Ripken s career accomplishments on the Field two map awards Rookie of the year perennial All Star shortstop several Banner years at the plate and in the Field Rand his total dedication to the game = they Tell the Story of Gehrig s going on a radio broadcast sponsored by a Cereal called huskies and inadvertently extolling the Virtues of his morning favorite wheaties never heard of huskies Small wonder the company went out of business after a Short run. Lou was christened heinrich7gchrig, which probably would have led to a piano endorsement if lie had stuck with it. Gehrig s explanation after taking himself out of the Yankees lineup after going 4 for 28, All singles in the first eight games of the 1939 season was i m not helping the we might be hearing something similar around Here in a half dozen years or so. Page 12 beyond the game september 9-15, 1995 beyond the game Page 1 3
