Major League Baseball History: The Season is Over (September 1994)

On September 14th, 1994, with no progress being made between the owners and players during the first month of the strike, the anticipated bomb detonated over the sport. The kind of explosion that, due to its puissance, would leave a lasting impact on the game for years to come. Bud Selig, who, at this time, was now serving as acting commissioner of MLB, held a news conference at Milwaukee County Stadium to broadcast the sour 411 that everyone knew was coming. For the first time since 1904, there would be no World Series. Carrying out The Fall Classic while countries were clashing? Not an issue. The show went on each year during World War I, even in 1918, when the influenza pandemic stung the nation at a more-than alarming rate. Hosting the sacred event amid The Great Depression? No problem. Though, according to the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum, Hoover, the President of the United States at the time of the calamity, was warbled with a string of boos from the fans after throwing out the first pitch prior to Game 3 of the 1931 World Series. Years later, when World War II was at its height in terms of mania, the league, despite losing some of its stars to combat, persevered and carried on with the 1943 World Series with a slight scheduling modification due to wartime traveling restrictions.

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Major League Baseball History: Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies

In 1983, budding superstar for the Baltimore Orioles, shortstop Cal Ripken Jr., in just his 2nd full season in the Majors, won the American League MVP award. The year prior, he was named the AL Rookie of the Year in a near-unanimous decision, earning 94% of the votes. It was in May of that freshman campaign when ‘Rip’ kicked off his historic consecutive game streak. After sitting out the 2nd game of a doubleheader against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 29th, Ripken was back in the lineup the following day. From a performance perspective, Ripken’s game itself was uneventful, as the 21-year-old went 0-for-2 in the contest. As a team, Baltimore racked up just one hit in the ballgame en route to getting blanked by the Blue Jays, 6-0. Yet, the date May 30th, 1982, will live on forever in the baseball world, as it marked the first of 2,632 straight games that Ripken Jr. would start in. An incredible, unbroken chain of events that lasted almost 16 years. On September 6th, 1995, ‘The Iron Man’ surpassed Lou ‘The Iron Horse’ Gehrig’s previous record of 2,230, and became the all-time leader in the history books. Barring an unfathomable run by a modern-day ballplayer, with the way the game is trending, it’s quite possible that Ripken Jr. will remain the king of the category until the end of time.

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