1998 Baltimore Orioles season
The 1998 Baltimore Orioles season involved the Orioles finishing 4th in the American League East with a record of 79 wins and 83 losses, the first of 14 consecutive losing seasons. Regular season. All good things must come to an end. In June, Cal Ripken, Jr. began to contemplate ending his still-active, record-breaking streak of consecutive games played. However, the Orioles were still in contention for a wild-card spot in the playoffs at that point, so he continued playing. By mid-September, after the team fell out of wild-card contention, Ripken decided  that, since the games that began his streak (May 30, 1982), tied Lou Gehrig's old record of 2,130 games (September 5, 1995) and surpassed it (September 6, 1995) all took place in his Baltimore hometown, it would be most appropriate to bring his incredible run to a close at home also. Thus, on September 20, after playing 2,632 games without a break, Cal Ripken, Jr. asked to be taken out of the starting lineup for the Orioles' last home game of the season against the New York Yankees. Everybody was stunned when rookie Ryan Minor took third base instead  of Ripken for the start of the game. The game's first batter, New York's Chuck Knoblauch, grounded out to shortstop for the first out, officially ending Ripken's streak and prompting both teams and the fans to give "The Iron Man" a thunderous ovation for his monumental achievement. Player stats. Batting. Starters by position. "Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in" Other batters. "Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. =  Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in" Pitching. Starting pitchers. "Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts" Other pitchers. "Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts" Relief pitchers. "Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts"