33. Cal Ripken Jr.’s Last All-Star Game
July 10, 2001: In addition to getting baseball’s all-time Iron Person, Cal Ripken could increase to the celebration. Scenario in place: He homered in the video game he matched Lou Gehrig’s 2,131-consecutive-video games-performed record, and all over again the up coming day when he broke it. So it was no surprise that he would supply a great second in his closing All-Star Recreation in 2001.
Ripken, a landslide choice to get started at third base for the American League, arrived to the plate in the third inning to the topic from the movie, The Organic. He acquired a warm ovation, so affectionate and prolonged that he had to step out of the batter’s box and acknowledge it.
When he actions back in, Dodgers pitcher Chan Ho Park provides the first pitch…and Ripken sends it around the fence in left area. He results in being the oldest player (40 a long time, 10 months, 16 times) to strike a home operate in the All-Star Video game, eclipsing Stan Musial, and is named the Game’s MVP for a record next time.
“As significantly as unique times go, it will not get any greater than that,” claims fellow all-star and 2001 retiree Tony Gwynn.