Labor Day is often regarded as a day of rest throughout the United States but on this day, fifteen years ago, two men were honored and remembered for not missing a single day at the office in over thirteen years respectively.
On September 6, 1995, millions of baseball fans, nationally and internationally, tuned in to watch Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. eclipse the seemingly unbreakable record of New York Yankees great Lou Gehrig for consecutive games played, which stood at 2,130 for 56 years.
And when the game against the California Angels became official after the top half of the fifth inning, everyone in attendance at Camden Yards, including President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, the Angels’ ball club and the umpires, erupted in a standing ovation that lasted more than twenty minutes.
During the ovation, Ripken did a victory lap around the stadium’s warning track to shake hands and give high-fives to the fans; a course of action the two-time American League MVP had to be persuaded to take by his teammates.
"Bobby Bonilla and Rafael Palmeiro pushed me out of the dugout and said, 'Hey, if you don't do a lap around this thing, we'll never get the game started', Ripken said after the game. “I thought it was a ridiculous sort of thing, but as I started to do it, the celebration of 50,000 started to be very one-on-one and very personal. I started seeing people I knew. Those were the people that had been around the ballpark all those years, and it was really a wonderful human experience."
Ripken, a 19-time All-Star selection and 2007 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, would end the streak on his own terms at 2,632 games against, coincidentally enough, the New York Yankees on September 20, 1998; and, realizing the streak was coming to an end, the Camden Yards faithful, his teammates and the visiting Yankees gave Ripken an ovation after the game’s first out was recorded.
Among active players, the player closest to Ripken’s unattainable milestone is Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder, who has played in 321 consecutive games.
Following his retirement in 2001, Ripken continued to make donations to many charitable causes, including support for research on Lou Gehrig’s disease. In addition, the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, formed by Ripken and his younger Billy, gives underprivileged children the opportunity to attend baseball camps around the country and learn the game.
In 2007, Ripken, along with Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Mia Hamm, Jeff Gordon, Tony Hawk, Andrea Jaeger, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mario Lemieux, and Alonzo Mourning founded Athletes for Hope, a charitable organization, which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and inspires millions of non-athletes to volunteer and support the community.
As for ‘The Iron Horse’, over a 15-season span (1925-1939), Gehrig played in 2,130 consecutive games while becoming, arguably, the greatest first baseman in the history of Major League Baseball.
Tragically, Gehrig’s career was cut short, at the age of 36, when he was stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which has come to be more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The fatal neuromuscular disease claimed Gehrig’s career in 1939 and his life in 1941 when he was only 37.
To put it in perspective, Ripken retired in 2001 at the age of 41. If Gehrig had played until he was 41 without missing a game, his streak would have taken him to 2,758 consecutive games played by the end of the 1942 season.
But much like Ripken, Gehrig’s impact on the game of baseball transcended his play on the field; especially as ALS progressively destroyed the motor functions of his central nervous system while he remained fully aware of his deteriorating condition.
The New York Yankees announced Gehrig’s retirement on June 21, 1939 and proclaimed July 4, 1939, “Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day” at Yankee Stadium, where dignitaries, fans and members of the 1927 Yankees World Championship team, famously known as ‘Murderer’s Row’, attended the event.
After numerous presentations and remarks, which included New York Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia calling him "the greatest prototype of good sportsmanship and citizenship" and Yankees manager Joe McCarthy describing him as "the finest example of a ballplayer, sportsman, and citizen that baseball has ever known", Gehrig addressed the crowd with these poignant words:
Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.
Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.
When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift — that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies — that’s something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter — that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body — it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed — that's the finest I know.
So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for. Thank you.
During the ceremony, Gehrig’s uniform number ‘4’ was retired by the Yankees, making him the first player in baseball history to be accorded the honor.
In October 1939, Gehrig accepted Mayor LaGuardia's appointment to a ten-year term as New York City Parole Commissioner and was sworn into office on January 2, 1940. The Parole Commission commended Gehrig for his "firm belief in parole, properly administered", stating that Gehrig "indicated he accepted the parole post because it represented an opportunity for public service. He had rejected other job offers – including lucrative speaking and guest appearance opportunities – worth far more financially than the $5,700 a year commissionership."
Gehrig visited New York City's correctional facilities, but insisted that the visits not be covered by news media; and, as always, quietly and efficiently performed his duties, often helped by his wife Eleanor, who would guide his hand when he had to sign official documents.
About a month before his death, when Gehrig reached the point where his deteriorating physical condition made it impossible for him to continue in the job, he quietly resigned.
In December 1939, Lou Gehrig was elected unanimously to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in a special election by the Baseball Writers Association, waiving the waiting period normally required after a player's retirement. At age 36, Gehrig was the youngest player to be so honored.
A little over a month after his death, the Yankees dedicated a monument to Gehrig in center field at Yankee Stadium on July 6, 1941, the shrine lauding him as, "A man, a gentleman and a great ballplayer whose amazing record of 2,130 consecutive games should stand for all time."
So on this day of national rest, Cal Ripken, Jr. and Lou Gehrig should be remembered for their unwillingness to rest in becoming two of the most consummate professionals and unassuming superstars, on and off the field, in the annals of baseball.
Click here to read the original article on Examiner.com, which includes relevant links and a special video presentation on the career of 'The Iron Horse' Lou Gehrig.
The Steroids Era Can Never Taint What Cal Ripken, Jr. & Lou Gehrig put together
