RANK & FILE

A LINEUP OF SPORTS TIDBITS

IRON MAN

Tuesday marked the 35th anniversary of Cal Ripken’s recordbreaking consecutive games played streak that broke Lou Gehrig’s mark of 2,130 and eventually landed at an incredible 2,632 games. Here are seven interesting facts about Ripken’s streak:

1. Gehrig had Wally Pipp, Ripken had Floyd Rayford. Well, kind of . ... Rayford played third base in the game before Ripken permanently took a place in the Orioles’ starting lineup for the next 16 years. Ripken was the Orioles’ regular third baseman but got a game off in the second game of a doubleheader on May 29, 1982. Rayford just happened to play third in the game before Ripken’s record streak began (he had played in 22 straight games prior). On July 1, 1982, Ripken made a permanent move to shortstop, replacing Lenn Sakata, who had been the team’s regular shortstop.

2. On May 29, 1995, Derek Jeter made his major-league debut with the New York Yankees. That day was the 2,038th consecutive game for Ripken. In the time between Ripken’s first start at shortstop and Jeter’s debut (19821995), a number of players manned shortstop for the Yankees. The starting shortstop for the Yankees on the day Ripken’s streak started was Roy Smalley. Here are those who also played shortstop for the Yankees in games against the Orioles from that time until Jeter took over: Andre Robertson, Barry Evans, Bobby Meacham, Tim Foli, Keith Smith, Wayne Tolleson, Ivan de Jesus, Mike Fischlin, Rafael Santana, Alvaro Espinoza, Randy Velarde, Andy Stankiewicz, Mike Gallego, Dave Silvestri, Spike Owen, Kevin Elster, Tony Fernandez. That’s 18 shortstops.

3. From 1987-’92 and then again in 1996, Cal was teammates with his brother Bill. During that time, the two played in 663 games together (634 times when both were starters) and turned 287 double plays.

4. Cal’s son Ryan was born on July 26, 1993, which was conveniently an off-day for the Orioles. The next day, Cal hit a home run against the Toronto Blue Jays. Ryan is currently a minorleaguer in the Orioles system.

5. From June 1982 through September 1987, Ripken played in 8,243 consecutive innings. The player whose record he broke played during the 19th century, George Pinkney (5,152 consecutive innings from 1885-’90 for the Brooklyn Bridegrooms).

6. Ripken severely twisterd his right knee during a benchesclearing brawl with the Seattle Mariners on June 6, 1993. Ripken was sore the next day but still played. Had he sat that game out, his streak would have ended at 1,790 games.

7. During a team photo shoot for the 1996 All-Star Game, Chicago White Sox pitcher Roberto Hernandez slipped and broke Ripken’s nose. Ripken played in that game and then for the Orioles two days later when the regular season resumed.