Photo courtesy of Bleacher Report

Thirty years ago today on May 30, 1982, Cal Ripken Jr. began his illustrious run at Lou Gehrig’s record of consecutive games played. Little did the world know that 21-year old Cal Ripken Jr. would earn his place in Cooperstown, breaking a 56-year-old record that many had deemed unbreakable.

On September 6, 1995 Ripken broke Gehrig’s record for his 2,131st consecutive game in front of the sold-out hometown crowd at Camden Yards and truly made it one to remember by hitting a home run in a 4 to 2 win against the California Angels. Ripken went on to play an additional 501 straight games over the next 3 years, further establishing himself as The Iron Man of Baseball.

Written by Kevon Knudsen