70 in 70. Celebrating the Orioles 70th season by showcasing a handful of pictures from each season of Orioles Baseball. 1998
March 5, 2023
70 in 70. Celebrating the Orioles 70th season by showcasing a handful of pictures from each season of Orioles Baseball. 1998
5 comments
This is a reupload, the earlier post listed the year as 1999.
All good things must come to an end. On September 20, 1998 about 30 minutes before a game at Camden Yards against Yankees, Cal Ripken Jr told manager Ray Miller that he’d be ending the streak. After 2,632 games and nearly 2 decades one of the greatest sports feats in modern history was finished. The impact the Streak had on the Orioles and baseball as a whole can’t be understated. This was the first year of a a nearly 2 decade playoff drought so it’s somewhat fitting the Streak would also end this season
To put into perspective how incredible the Streak is in a modern perspective, Whitt Merrifeld was by far the leader in consecutive games played until he got hurt in the middle of 2022. He had nearly 2 whole season over the next active streak. His streak ended at 553 games. Merrifeld would have had to play every day until 2034 to come within 100 games of Cals record.
Also featured this year is Eddie Murray as a bench coach. Around this time was when Owner Peter Angelos started getting really hands on with staff and personnel. That’s not to say Murray was a bad hire, but just to point out that the same person that fired Davey Johnson, the AL manager of the year the same week he won the award over a small fine against star player Roberto Alomar, is the same guy who hired Eddie Murray as bench coach alongside Ray Miller. Eddie was already a Hall of Famer at this point in his life and the move to make him bench coach would kick start his career in major league coaching. He would be a part of several organizations all the way up to 2020 in a semiretired consultant role with Cleveland.
Ryan Minor was called up the the big leagues 11 days before he was thrust into stardom as the man who replaced Cal Ripken Jr. Minor was a college standout and a key peice of the 1994 National Champions Oklahoma Sooners. He was a 33rd round pick and would play for parts of 4 seasons. After his playing career he would embark on a coaching career that lasted until 2022. He would work in the minors for several different teams including the Orioles for more than one level. Ryan Minor didn’t contribute a lot to the Orioles as a player but his role in history and his role as a coach make him truly memorable
This was the beginning of the purgatory years. People who complain about the Elias rebuild either don’t remember that or realize how tough those years were. It was crazy when the Streak ended because Cal had began five years before I was born and the year before my folks married. Ending it at 2632 at home made sense. And the next year he got hurt though had a great offensive year.
Was I the only one here who grew up with an Alomar poster on his wall?
I was at the game he sat. I was 3, apparently I cried then I got some ice cream.
Is that one of the Hairstons in the background of pic 1?
5 comments
This is a reupload, the earlier post listed the year as 1999.
All good things must come to an end. On September 20, 1998 about 30 minutes before a game at Camden Yards against Yankees, Cal Ripken Jr told manager Ray Miller that he’d be ending the streak. After 2,632 games and nearly 2 decades one of the greatest sports feats in modern history was finished. The impact the Streak had on the Orioles and baseball as a whole can’t be understated. This was the first year of a a nearly 2 decade playoff drought so it’s somewhat fitting the Streak would also end this season
Here’s 8 fun facts about the streak https://www.mlb.com/news/amazing-facts-about-cal-ripken-jr-s-games-played-streak
Here’s a SABR article about Cal ending the streak https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/september-20-1998-cal-ripken-decides-to-end-consecutive-game-streak-at-2632/
In addition to The Sun, the Washington Post also has an article still up about that day https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/orioles/longterm/1998/streakends/articles/ripken21.htm
To put into perspective how incredible the Streak is in a modern perspective, Whitt Merrifeld was by far the leader in consecutive games played until he got hurt in the middle of 2022. He had nearly 2 whole season over the next active streak. His streak ended at 553 games. Merrifeld would have had to play every day until 2034 to come within 100 games of Cals record.
Also featured this year is Eddie Murray as a bench coach. Around this time was when Owner Peter Angelos started getting really hands on with staff and personnel. That’s not to say Murray was a bad hire, but just to point out that the same person that fired Davey Johnson, the AL manager of the year the same week he won the award over a small fine against star player Roberto Alomar, is the same guy who hired Eddie Murray as bench coach alongside Ray Miller. Eddie was already a Hall of Famer at this point in his life and the move to make him bench coach would kick start his career in major league coaching. He would be a part of several organizations all the way up to 2020 in a semiretired consultant role with Cleveland.
Ryan Minor was called up the the big leagues 11 days before he was thrust into stardom as the man who replaced Cal Ripken Jr. Minor was a college standout and a key peice of the 1994 National Champions Oklahoma Sooners. He was a 33rd round pick and would play for parts of 4 seasons. After his playing career he would embark on a coaching career that lasted until 2022. He would work in the minors for several different teams including the Orioles for more than one level. Ryan Minor didn’t contribute a lot to the Orioles as a player but his role in history and his role as a coach make him truly memorable
This was the beginning of the purgatory years. People who complain about the Elias rebuild either don’t remember that or realize how tough those years were. It was crazy when the Streak ended because Cal had began five years before I was born and the year before my folks married. Ending it at 2632 at home made sense. And the next year he got hurt though had a great offensive year.
Was I the only one here who grew up with an Alomar poster on his wall?
I was at the game he sat. I was 3, apparently I cried then I got some ice cream.
Is that one of the Hairstons in the background of pic 1?