Cal Ripken Jr. Breaks Gehrig's Record: September 6, 1995

Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s record on September 6, 1995, when he played his 2,131st consecutive game for the Baltimore Orioles. Gehrig’s mark of 2,130 straight games had stood for 56 years and was widely considered unbreakable. Ripken marked the night with a home run, and the crowd at Camden Yards stopped the game for about 22 minutes to cheer him.

Game 2,131: What Happened at Camden Yards

The night before, Ripken had tied the record in game 2,130, and fans gave him a standing ovation that lasted 5 minutes and 20 seconds. That set the tone for the next evening.

The Orioles hosted the California Angels on a Wednesday night in Baltimore, with ESPN carrying the game nationally. Chris Berman and Buck Martinez called it. President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were among the guests who congratulated Ripken that night.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, after Bobby Bonilla had already homered, Ripken drove a 3-0 pitch from Shawn Boskie into the left-field seats. It was his 15th home run of the season.

The record became official in the middle of the fifth inning, when a game counts in the standings. Shortstop Manny Alexander caught a pop fly from Damion Easley for the third out of the top half, and the numbers on the giant banner hanging from the B&O Warehouse flipped from 2,130 to 2,131. Black and orange balloons rose over the park.

The 22-Minute Ovation and the Lap Around the Park

Ripken stepped out to acknowledge the crowd, but the applause did not stop. He removed his jersey and handed it to his children; underneath he wore a shirt that read “2130+ hugs and kisses for Daddy.”

Eventually teammates Rafael Palmeiro and Bobby Bonilla pushed him back onto the field. What started as a wave turned into a slow lap along the stands, with Ripken shaking hands with fans and greeting players in the Angels dugout. Whitney Houston’s “One Moment in Time” played over the speakers. Ripken later said the moment “just kept going and going.” By the time play resumed, more than 22 minutes had passed since the banner changed.

The Orioles won 4-2. After the game, Yankees great Joe DiMaggio said he believed Gehrig was “tipping his cap” to Ripken. Ripken told the crowd he was overwhelmed to have his name linked with Gehrig’s.

How the Streak Began and What Gehrig Had Set

Ripken’s run started on May 30, 1982, in his rookie season. He won the American League Rookie of the Year award that year, then followed it in 1983 with the league’s Most Valuable Player award and a World Series title.

Gehrig’s streak with the New York Yankees began on June 1, 1925, and his last game in it was April 30, 1939. On May 2, 1939, he took himself out of the lineup because of an illness that doctors at the Mayo Clinic later diagnosed as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, now often called Lou Gehrig’s disease. He died on June 2, 1941. His 2,130 games stood as the record until Ripken passed it.

A Record That Helped Baseball After the Strike

The timing gave the night extra weight. Major League players had gone on strike on August 12, 1994. The walkout lasted 232 days, wiped out 948 games and forced the cancellation of the 1994 World Series, the first year without one since 1904. The strike ended on April 2, 1995, and the 1995 season was cut to 144 games per team.

Fans stayed away in large numbers. Average attendance fell about 20 percent, from roughly 31,000 per game in 1994 to about 25,000 in 1995. Ripken’s chase gave the sport a story that had nothing to do with labor disputes: a player who simply showed up every day.

Timeline of the Ripken Streak

Date	Milestone
May 30, 1982	Streak begins
August 12, 1994	Players’ strike halts the season
April 2, 1995	Strike ends
September 5, 1995	Ripken ties Gehrig with game 2,130
September 6, 1995	Game 2,131 breaks the record
September 20, 1998	Ripken sits out, ending the streak at 2,632
2007	Ripken enters the Baseball Hall of Fame

How the Streak Ended and Ripken’s Legacy

Ripken kept playing every day for three more seasons. On September 20, 1998, he asked manager Ray Miller to take him out of the lineup, ending the streak at 2,632 consecutive games. You can count the span yourself with the days between dates calculator or see where it ended on the 1998 calendar.

During the streak, he hit 316 home runs, made 13 straight All-Star teams and played 99.2 percent of the Orioles’ innings, according to figures compiled for the 20th anniversary. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame with the Class of 2007.

For the rest of that baseball season and the year’s other headlines, browse the full 1995 calendar or read about the Windows 95 launch, which arrived two weeks before game 2,131.