May 30, 1982: Cal Ripken's Streak Begins

May 30, 1982: The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Jays get a 1-hit shutout from Jim Gott (6 innings) and Roy Lee Jackson (3). The only hit is a single by Rick Dempsey in the 5th inning.

Playing shortstop for the Orioles, and batting 8th, is Cal Ripken Jr., the 20-year-old son of a team coach. He goes 0-for-2, but does draw a walk. Although he had been featured on the Orioles' "Future Stars" card in the 1982 Topps baseball card set -- along with shortstop Bob Bonner and pitcher Jeff Schneider -- he had, to this point, appeared in a grand total of 65 major league games. And the Orioles' most recent one hadn't been one of them.

He must have impressed manager Earl Weaver, because Earl put Cal in the next game as well. And the next. And so on. By the time Ripken next missed a game (for reasons other than a strike), he was 38, and had played in 2,632 in a row, breaking the record of 2,130 set from 1925 to 1939 by Lou Gehrig.

Oh, those other two guys? Since Ripken was moved to shortstop on July 1, and stayed there before being moved back to 3rd base in 1996, Bonner was doomed. He appeared in 61 major league games, all with the Orioles, the last in 1983. Moving him to 2nd base didn't help. He is now a Baptist missionary.

Schneider had appeared in 11 major league games, all for the Orioles, by the time he appeared on that card, and never appeared in another game, being traded to the California Angels and then the Blue Jays, being released in 1983 and never being signed by another team. All I can determine about him as of May 30, 2022 is that he's still alive.

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May 30, 1982 was a Sunday. These other Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-6 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Willie Randolph singled and Oscar Gamble doubled home runs in the top of the 10th inning. Gamble and John Mayberry, the former Kansas City Royals slugger playing out the string with the Yankees, hit home runs. Bobby Murcer went 2-for-6 with 3 RBIs.

* The New York Mets beat the Houston Astros, 9-5 at Shea Stadium. Mike Scott was the winning pitcher for the Mets. He would later bedevil them for the Astros.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Steve Carlton helped his own cause by going 2-for-3. Mike Schmidt had to leave the game in the 2nd inning, due to an injury.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Montreal Expos, 7-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-6 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Johnny Ray won it with a homer in the bottom of the 13th inning.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Fernando Valenzuela pitched an 8-hit shutout, defeating Fergie Jenkins.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres, 6-5 at Busch Memorial Stadium. The Padres scored 2 runs in the top of the 10th inning, but the Cards scored 3 in the bottom of the 10th, winning it on a single by Dane Iorg.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. George Brett went 0-for-4.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the California Angels, 7-3 at Anaheim Stadium. (It was renamed Edison International Field in 1997, and Angel Stadium of Anaheim in 2004.) Robin Yount and Paul Molitor both went 0-for-4 for the Brew Crew, but Cecil Cooper, Ted Simmons and Ben Oglivie hit home runs. For the Angels, Fred Lynn and Doug DeCinces homered, Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4, and Rod Carew went 2-for-3.

* A doubleheader was split at the Oakland Coliseum. The Detroit Tigers won the opener, 5-2. The Oakland Athletics won the nightcap, 6-2. Between the 2 games, Rickey Henderson went 5-for-8 with 4 stolen bases and an RBI.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Boston Red Sox, 2-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4. The BoSox led 1-0 going into the bottom of the 9th, but the Mariners won it on a walk to Bobby Brown (the recent former Yankee center fielder, not the long-retired former Yankee 3rd baseman) and back-to-back doubles by Richie Zisk and Gary Gray.

Football was out of season. The hockey season ended 2 weeks earlier, when the New York Islanders swept the Vancouver Canucks for the Stanley Cup. Game 2 of the NBA Finals was played, and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 110-94 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Julius Erving, "Dr. J," scored 24 points and had 14 rebounds. But the Lakers won 4 of the next 5, and won the title.