Jon Miller came to Baltimore as the team\u2019s principal broadcaster in 1983, and Cal Ripken Jr.\u2019s streak was already underway, though no one talked about it.<\/p>\n
Miller, who left the Orioles after the 1996 season, has called San Francisco Giants games since 1997. He will participate in Saturday\u2019s ceremonies honoring the 30th anniversary of Ripken surpassing Lou Gehrig\u2019s consecutive games streak.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got to Baltimore in 1983, and Cal played every inning of every game for the first five years I was broadcasting the games, much less every game,\u201d Miller said over the weekend at San Francisco\u2019s Oracle Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe streak had already started at that time, and nobody even realized it at that time, because the streak was what, [117] games by the time the \u201983 season started.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ripken\u2019s consecutive innings streak lasted from May 29th, 1982-September 14th, 1987 when his father, Cal Sr., removed him in the eighth inning of a game in Toronto when the Orioles allowed 10 home runs.<\/p>\n
Miller says the streak\u2019s importance was impressed upon him by longtime teammate Eddie Murray.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018When you hit, third, fourth in the lineup, it\u2019s so important that you\u2019re ready to play every day,\u201d Murray told Ripken. \u201cIf you miss a game, just one game, it\u2019s a letdown to the whole clubhouse and the entire clubhouse, so Eddie was a guy who took those words very seriously himself, and that was an example he set, but I don\u2019t think anybody\u2019s ever taken anybody\u2019s advice more to heart than Cal, who took Eddie\u2019s advice of playing every day and the importance of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cEddie told him, \u2018You have to get your sleep. You have to eat well. You have to stay in shape to be able to play every day. In \u201984, both of them played the whole season, one right after the other, and they hit one right after the other in the batting order. Still a great 1-2 punch, even though the whole team went into a slump except those two guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller remembers how big September 6th, 1995 was to the sports world. ESPN televised the game, and it received the highest rating of any baseball game it ever showed, even though both the Orioles and the Angels both televised it locally.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what resonated was that was what people have to do every day, be ready to go to work. It was sort of a workingman\u2019s kind of record,\u201d Miller believes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe stayed in shape. He stayed healthy, and he was available every day to help his team try to win ballgames, so I guess everybody could kind of identify with that in their personal lives and it was also the next year after the big strike which had a debilitating effect on the whole sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people said: \u2018Man, I\u2019ve had it with these guys, these overpaid ballplayers and these billionaire owners fighting about money. I\u2019ve seen my last game.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a key factor in people falling in love with the game again. Part of the thing that resonated was, that\u2019s part of the thing that they loved about the game, things like that. The thing that was so big about Cal playing every game for all those years, day after day was that Lou Gehrig had that record, one of the storied superstars in major league history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller remembers Ripken being chided by a good friend, the Minnesota Twins\u2019 Hall of Fame outfielder Kirby Puckett about his streak<\/p>\n
\u201cKirby hits a double. He\u2019s at second and Cal\u2019s over there covering, throws the ball back to the pitcher,\u201d Miller recalls.<\/p>\n
Kirby says, \u201cHey, Cal, you look tired.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says, \u2018Well, we got in at 3 in the morning from Anaheim, and I\u2019m really dragging tonight,\u2019 and Kirby laughed: \u2018Look at it this way, Cal, just another five years and you can take a day off.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Kirby was getting on his case and having a laugh with it, and it made Cal laugh. He wasn\u2019t even that close to the streak. We didn\u2019t know if he was going to make that or not. Five years, that\u2019s still another 800 games. Cal was at 1,300 or 1,400 games, whatever year that was.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Ripken approached 2,130, Orioles executive Charles Steinberg had a terrific idea. He\u2019d have a banner unfurled from The Warehouse with the number of games Ripken played consecutively once the game became official.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t even get that when he started doing that the previous homestand. He started doing that before they went on a road trip, and it seemed kind of hokey to me,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCal didn\u2019t seem to like it at all that they\u2019re showing him on camera, and he\u2019s kind of rolling his eyes. Then when we come back, and he ties the record one night and breaks it the next night, then we saw the genius of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the moment he created. He created the moment of the record, and that\u2019s when they celebrated and that\u2019s when the ovation started and the fans had their impromptu celebration with Cal.<\/p>\n
\u201cCal told the Orioles: \u2018We\u2019re not going to stop the game. I will not agree to that. This is not bigger than the game. We have to show respect for the game. After the game, you want to have some ceremony, let\u2019s do it. I\u2019ll be right there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen the fans went ahead, unprompted, unscripted, and they staged their own celebration with Cal, just out of the blue, 48,000 people and Cal, and they celebrated for what was it, 20 minutes?\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller knew something that wasn\u2019t widely known. Ripken wasn\u2019t feeling anywhere close to his best for the big night.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wasn\u2019t healthy,\u201d Miller said. \u201cHe had a fever, and he\u2019d been running a fever for a couple of days. He hadn\u2019t had a good night\u2019s sleep in several days. He was determined to get up with his kids, have breakfast with them, drive them to school and all that kind of stuff at the crack of dawn, and he did it that day with a 101 temperature, whatever he was running, which was an astounding little back story to that night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ripken will reenact his trot around the stadium, only this time he\u2019ll be driven around the warning track, and many players from his time will be back. Many of the fans in attendance have no memory of the time 30 years ago when Ripken, who\u2019d play another 501 games in a row until he voluntarily took a seat on September 20th, 1998, set the record.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the longest loud ovation, maybe in history, maybe the history of the world, certainly in sports,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the most unforgettable part of that whole night. It was not scripted and totally impromptu, this love fest between Cal and all those Orioles fans. They said, \u2018We\u2019re celebrating now. Sorry, Cal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Note: Right-handed reliever Corbin Martin cleared outright waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A Norfolk.<\/p>\n