Back in 1993, when I approached Cal Ripken Jr. about an interview on playing defense, he was hundreds of games behind Lou Gehrig’s record 2,130 consecutive games—yet already weary of questions about “The Streak.” I assured him that “The Streak” would be strictly off-limits for our chat. He said that would be “refreshing.”  

Before interviewing Ripken again this past week—30-plus years later—I told him that’s not how this one was going to go. It wasn’t a problem. When I spoke to him a few days after his 65th birthday, Ripken was in a particularly nostalgic mood. 

“You find yourself going back and remembering,” he said, “and I think the important part is you remember the people that you went through it with.” 

When Orioles royalty gathers at Camden Yards on Sept. 6 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Ripken’s 2,131st consecutive game, he’ll be surrounded by those people, including his longtime friend, the center fielder Brady Anderson—who played more games with Ripken (1,283) than any other player during The Streak.  

“The weirdest thing I think about his streak is it didn’t surprise me,” Anderson told me recently. “When he was seven years away, it never occurred to me that he might not accomplish it. There’s the mental desire to be able to do it, to want to do it, to not even think about it. It’s just, ‘I’m healthy, I’m playing. I’m not healthy, I’m playing.’” 

As Ripken readies to take the field at Camden Yards for the 2,131 festivities, he shares what’s on his mind these days, and looks back on a milestone that he’s now more than happy to talk about.  

How do you view 2,131 and The Streak differently now than you did 30 years ago?
Looking back on it, it’s sort of amazing all the things that could have happened or could have gone wrong. I was very much a person that didn’t want to look back and wanted to just look forward and focus on the challenge of today. Dad [Cal Ripken Sr.] always used to say, “You can’t replay yesterday’s game, although you can learn from it.” And, “You can’t play tomorrow’s game, so why don’t we focus on this one?” So, The Streak almost represented a collection of focusing on this one. But when you look in hindsight and see it in its entirety, it seems a lot harder than when I was actually doing it.  

I remember Brady Anderson saying to me during The Streak, “It’s not so much the injuries. How about food poisoning? Doesn’t he get the flu?”
The funny part about that was when it got close to the record, there were all kinds of different media that came in that weren’t necessarily sports media. And I’d get questions like, “Do you have somebody else cut up your food? Do you actually use knives?” And one of the funnier ones was, “You couldn’t slip on a bar of soap, so you probably don’t have any soap in your house.” I made a little joke: “Yeah, I have soap on a rope.”  

I remember you in the clubhouse using Butch, the clubhouse attendant, as a surfboard and jumping over sofas. You seemed like the least cautious player.
I didn’t worry about getting injured or anything else. You just had fun, mixing it up, wrestling around, doing whatever. I guess in hindsight, it had its risks, but that’s how I existed. Even playing basketball in the off season, I didn’t worry about it at all. I had my nose broken a couple times. I had plenty of stitches during that time that I was playing. But I never worried. If something were to happen, then it was the way it was meant to be.  

“A KID WILL SAY ‘I DIDN’T MISS A DAY OF SCHOOL FROM KINDERGARTEN ALL THE WAY THROUGH COLLEGE BECAUSE OF THE STREAK.’ AND THEY TAKE SPECIAL PRIDE IN THAT.”

As part of the Orioles ownership group, you’re at Camden Yards quite a bit these days. Is it emotional to be where you experienced all these moments? Do you glance up at the suite where your Dad was sitting for 2,131?
I wouldn’t describe them as haunting, but there are memories all over the place. You might walk through the dugout and see Dad’s plaque. You do look up in the skybox. You look at the Warehouse, sometimes the flashback comes about the numbers. Some of the highlights up on the big board take you right back to ’95. But in other ways, it seems like you might have lived another life and looking back on it, it’s a couple different separate lives. It seems like that was my first life, and then my second life is now.  

Were you all in on the 2,131 30th anniversary celebration? Or do you have to be talked into things like this?
I’m not big on anniversaries or reunions. I’ve never been to my high school reunion. I think you have certain periods of your life and you move on. And then you look forward. When you turn 65, you don’t look so far forward anymore. You enjoy looking back. And I think for The Streak and for that night, this time around, I’ve enjoyed getting a glimpse of looking back on it. It’s been fun for me.  

What kind of things do you hear from fans about what The Streak meant to them?  
A lot of times people share their feelings about The Streak with me, which I think is pretty amazing. A kid will say, “I didn’t miss a day of school from kindergarten all the way through college, and it was all because of The Streak.” And they take special pride in that. Or it’s  somebody working at an assembly plant for 35 years without missing a day and [The Streak] was important to them. 

So, I think The Streak has a little bit more meaning than just breaking Lou Gehrig’s record. I think it’s a value that people can relate to and they’ve lived their own lives that way. I think the coolest story was [Orioles umpire attendant] Ernie Tyler, who didn’t miss a home game. And he broke his streak [of 3,819 games] when he went to my induction in the Hall of Fame.  

“IT WAS VERY WORLD SERIES-LIKE. IT WAS LIKE THE ALL-STAR GAME, PLAYOFFS, OPENING DAY KIND OF COMBINATION.”

Leading up to 2,131, you regularly signed autographs after games on the field at Camden Yards until the wee hours. How did that come about?
I always thought, generally, [autographing] was a good way to interact with the fans. I was a little bit of an introvert, and that made it easier for me. I’ve always tried to do it as much as I could and still be an everyday baseball player. As [2,131] moved closer and closer, it seemed like there were [people] pulling on me to do more and more things.

What was getting phased out were my interactions with people in the stands. I started thinking, “When can I fit that in?” I realized, “After the game is over, I’m still wide awake. Your adrenaline is still pumping. You’re not going to go to bed for a while.” That seemed to be the right time to fit it in. 

I had no idea that it was going to turn into longer sessions. It was an interesting way to say thank you to baseball fans for hanging in there because of the collective bargaining thing [and the 1994-95 MLB Strike]. But, also, because The Streak was getting a lot of attention, I just wanted to be able to interact with the fans. And sometimes I stayed out there until two o’clock in the morning. That was my way of giving back.

What was it like in the moment for you on 2,131?
Dad and Mom walked me out on the field. Joe DiMaggio was there, Hank Aaron was there. It was very World Series-like. It was like the All-Star Game, playoffs, Opening Day kind of combination. Bill Clinton was there. And all those things were interesting, but it was really surreal. 

Controlling your adrenaline and your emotions in those moments is something I was lucky enough to learn how to do early on. I just tried to calm myself and focus on the game. But it was really hard because it was such a different atmosphere. The flashcubes going off in an almost synchronized fashion on the first pitch when I was at the plate, you noticed those things, and that was really different. 

And the lap around the warning track?
It turned out to be a very personal moment. You saw people that you knew their faces, but might not know their names. People that have been around a long time. And it was a really wonderful human moment for that celebration to turn into such a personal lap.  

Where’s that massive 2,131-pound landscaping rock that Mike Mussina presented to you in the post-game ceremony?
[Laughs] I think the rock is up in Aberdeen. It’s not as massive as you think it is. I thought the same thing when it was presented. When it sat on home plate, it looked like a huge boulder, but when you go to put it on the ground, and put a light on it, it wasn’t as big, but it was pretty cool.  

I know you waited to watch video of 2,131. Have you sat down and watched the whole game?
The reason I didn’t watch was because I had my perspective through my own eyeballs. It was so good that I wanted to remember it exactly that way. And I thought that, if I watched it, it might take something away from it. I think I did it on the 20-year anniversary or the 25th anniversary. You pick up things that you didn’t realize were happening. [Former Orioles manager] Earl Weaver was being interviewed, his comments about me, I thought were really cool. 

But what I found out is that it didn’t ruin my perspective, it just added to it. I enjoyed that. I don’t sit around and watch it. Every once in a while, if you see it surfing through the TV stations, it takes you back to that game. I might watch it for a few minutes and then move on.