Cal Ripken Jr. is Baseball’s Iron Man. He broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive game streak on September 6, 1995; playing in his 2131st consecutive game. However, not many fans remember that this streak was almost broken on August 14, 1997, when the Orioles were scheduled to play the Mariners at 7:35 PM. However, that was the night that the “Lights Went out in Camden Yards.”
There are many conspiracy theories floating around the internet involving Ripken, his then-wife, and movie star Kevin Costner who happened to be in Baltimore that day. We have no idea whether these rumors are true or not, but we’ll link some of the articles and you can do your own “research.”
There is evidence, that Ripken was actually at the stadium and ready to play, but there are also stories about his wife showing up at the stadium looking worse for wear and the “men upstairs” needed to do something to usher her out of Camden Yards.
Needless to say, whatever happened that night; the game was postponed the next day as a day game on Friday, August 15, 1997. The second game was played at night. You could use your ticket from Thursday, August 14, 1997, to enter the following game. We believe most people chose to skip the first game the next day, as it was a work day.
By postponing the game, kept the streak intact.
We’ll link some articles below. Offered is a ticket stub from the game on August 14, 1997, that was postponed. This was used the next day for Game 1 in which the Orioles won 4-3. Scott Kamieniecki got the win over Randy Johnson. Randy Myers was credited with the save. Ken Griffey Jr. scored a run off of his walk and A-Rod went 2 for 4 that included a double.
Jeff Reboulet and Jeffrey Hammonds both hit Home Runs off Randy Johnson. Ripken had an RBI and one strikeout in his two at-bats (one of which, he was hit by a pitch). Maybe Johnson was ticked about the cancellation from the night before.
Graded by PSA a 5 EX (pop 2)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/10/25/cal-ripken-kevin-costner-rumor/
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-costner-of-love/
https://www.knupsports.com/mlb/breaking-down-the-cal-ripken
https://www.audacy.com/sports/mlb/did-fake-power-outage-preserve-ripkens-games-played-streak
https://www.sportscasting.com/a-look-at-the-insane-rumor-that-cal-ripken-caught-his-wife-cheating-with-kevin-costner-which-nearly-ended-the-iron-man-streak/