As originally aired on The Rochester Press Box
Names eternally linked. On Saturday May 29, 1982, Floyd Rayford started the second game of a doubleheader at third base for the Baltimore Orioles against Toronto. The next day Cal Ripken, Jr., reclaimed his position. A month later he moved to shortstop and kept playing for a record 2,632 consecutive games over seventeen seasons. Rayford inadvertently cleared the way for Cal. In 1998, Ripken put an end to it all, telling manager Ray Miller prior to the last home game of the season, “I think the time is right.” After taking a victory lap around the stadium, Cal was replaced by Ryan Minor.
The record Ripken broke was believed to be untouchable. In fact, Lou Gehrig’s monument in Yankee Stadium reads, “Gehrig’s amazing record of 2,130 consecutive games should stand for all time.” Cal cleared it by 502. Gehrig’s began on June 2, 1925. Wally Pipp reported to the ballpark with a headache and manager Miller Huggins gave him the day off. Gehrig stepped in, and didn’t leave the lineup for fifteen years. In May of 1939, weak and suffering from the disease that would be named after him, and two years later would kill him at the age of 37, Gehrig benched himself. He never played again. Lou was replaced by Babe Dahlgren.
Postscripts. Gehrig was fast-tracked to the Hall of Fame. Sixty-eight years later, Ripken joined him. Pipp was immortalized by being replaced but had a pretty good sixteen-year Major League career. Dahlgren achieved some notoriety by being the first ballplayer to be drug tested, attempting to dispel a rumor he used marijuana. Rayford wound up a Rochester favorite, playing seven years here as the Sugar Bear in the 1980s. Minor, a two-sport star who was also drafted by Philadelphia in the NBA, died last week of cancer. He was 49. Of the six protagonists here, only Gehrig did not play for Rochester.
Pipp, Gehrig and Dahlgren. Rayford, Ripken and Minor. Names eternally linked.
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