In another reminder of the steady and inexorable march of time, this weekend marks the 30th anniversary of Cal Ripken Jr. breaking Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive games played with his 2,131st in a row. As we know now, Cal went on to play in 2,632 before taking a game off. The Orioles are celebrating the milestone anniversary year with a celebration ahead of Saturday’s game against the Dodgers, in which a great many of the players and significant people from 2131 will be back at Oriole Park at Camden
Yards.
For all of us who were alive to experience 2131, it is one of those events that stands out in the memory. My question is this: What do you remember about 2131?
In a big picture way, the thing that I remember the most is the feeling that the eyes of the entire world of sports were turned to Baltimore, certainly in a way that has not been equaled since and maybe that was never equaled before either. The opening of Camden Yards might be the only other thing that comes close.
Within Baltimore, where the Orioles were the only game in town, the fervor for 2131 was universal. Or at least that’s how it seemed to me at age 11. Everyone everywhere seemed to have something to say about the coming milestone, classmates and teachers at school, family members, other kids at church. Every radio station, regardless of its format, was talking about it, wondering what it would be like, or for the morbid, what if something happened to Cal before he could actually get to the finish line.
The 7th grade students of Ms. Talbert’s algebra class (pronunciation mnemonic: Tall Bert, Short Ernie) burned with envy over the fact that she would be in attendance at the record-tying game, 2130. It’s funny to recall this now, because now that’s just kind of a consolation prize. Like, oh, you couldn’t actually make it to the real historic game? I guess it’s nice you were there to see the tying of the record.
My other big personal memory of the 2131 fever is that the radio station WQSR 105.7, then an oldies station, was going to be doing a contest where the 2,131st caller would win a pair of tickets to that night’s record-breaking game. (Want to feel old? 1995 music was as close to today as “oldies” music was to 1995.) As I went off to school, my mom said she would try to call here and there and see what happened. When I came back home, she said that she was very briefly on air as they told her she was caller 2000, but no tickets for that.
WQSR’s morning radio hosts frequently came along with silly songs that fit this or that moment. The excitement around 2131 generated a spoof on a #1 song from the summer of 1969, “In The Year 2525.” Except instead it was “In The Game 2131.” Don’t ask me to recall any of the lyrics.
What’s your 2131 story? Let us know in the comments below.
