“Baltimore, Md., September 5, 1989:  O’s shortstop Cal Ripken walloped his 20th HR of the year, the eight [sic] consecutive campaign he has hit 20-0r-more Roundtrippers.  The former record of 7 straight 20-HR seasons at SS was set by Ernie Banks, 1955-1961.”

1990 Topps:

1. #666 Brian Fisher
2. #91 Steve Frey
3. #461 Carlos Martinez (Topps All-Star Rookie)
4. #201 Cito Gaston (Manager)
5. #192 Don August
6. #191 Pat Borders
7. #239 Eric Show
8. #270 Dave Stewart
9. #52 Jack Daugherty
10. #474 Rich Thompson
11. #713 Tim Drummond
12. #110 Tommy Helms (Manager)
13. #719 Wally Whitehurst
14. #14 Mike Fetters
15. #8 Cal Ripken (Record Breaker)
16. #387 Wade Boggs (All-Star)

“9-6-95: Cal’s 2,131st straight game!”

I think I still have the front page of the newspaper from September 7, 1995 sitting in a box somewhere.  I’ll scan it and post it next time I see it.

1996 Topps Series 1:

1. #154 Geronimo Berroa
2. #21 Jim Scharrer (Draft Pick) (Rookie)
3. #165 Steve Avery
4. #200 Cal Ripken
5. #56 Greg Gagne
6. #157 Mark Gubicza
7. #194 Alex Fernandez
8. #168 Tino Martinez
9. #121 Curtis Goodwin
10. #141 Quilvio Veras
11. #176 Steve Ontiveros
12. #176 Steve Ontiveros

“Ripken has established new standards for durability and power for the shortstop position.  While the typical Hall of Fame SS normed 6 homers per year, Cal has averaged more than 4 per MONTH in his career.  Replacing Aparicio’s speed with slugging, he otherwise compares closely to Little Louie.”

Ripken was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007.

1994 Topps Series 2:

1. #434 Bob Walk
2. #604 Cal Ripken (Measures of Greatness)
3. #692 Mickey Morandini
4. #453 Eric Hillman
5. #593 Omar Vizquel
6. Gold #670 Danny Tartabull
7. #665 Mark Langston
8. #502 Mike Greenwell
9. #425 Brian McRae
10. #501 Donovan Osborne
11. #515 Jack McDowell
12. #616 Eddie Zambrano/Glenn Murray/Chad Mottola/Jermaine Allensworth (Prospects) (Rookie Card)

1995 Topps Traded and Rookies:

1. #92T Vaughn Eshelman
2. #118T Jerald Clark
3. #46T Dave Mlicki
4. #110T David Cone
5. #24T Tomas Perez
6. #29T Todd Williams
7. #27T Derek Bell
8. #104T Melvin Bunch
9. #159 Cal Ripken/Ozzie Smith (All-Star)
10. #104T Melvin Bunch
11. #156 Frank Thomas/Fred McGriff (All-Star)

Cal Ripken edged out Ozzie Smith in 1994 All-Star Voting 1,628,524 votes to Smith’s 1,367,518.

1991 Score, to be integrated into my collection:

1. #90 Todd Benzinger
2. #91 Mike Jackson
3. #94 John Kruk
4. #95 Cal Ripken Jr.
5. #97 Mike Felder
6. #102 Jaime Navarro *x2
7. #104 Brian Downing *x3
8. #105 Jim Abbott *x2
9. #107 Darryl Hamilton *x3
10. #110 Greg Swindell
11. #113 Scott Bradley
12. #114 Jack Morris
13. #115 Barry Jones
14. #118 Scott Sanderson
15. #120 George Brett *x4
16. #122 Jim Acker *x2
17. #125 Jay Buhner *x2
18. #126 Matt Young *x3
19. #127 Alvaro Espinoza
20. #129 Jeff Robinson
21. #130 Mike Greenwell
22. #134 Randy Velarde
23. #136 Mark Davis
24. #138 Phil Stephenson
25. #139 Felix Fermin
26. #140 Pedro Guerrero
27. #146 Eric Anthony *x2
28. #148 Jesse Barfield *x2
29. #150 Dave Stewart *x3
30. #154 Jim Eisenreich *x2

1990 Upper Deck, to be integrated into my collection:

1. #5 Devon White (Team Card)
2. #6 Luis Salazar
3. #48 Kirby Puckett (Team Card)
4. #50 Will Clark (All-Star)
5. #79 Ozzie Guillen (Team Card)
6. #95 George Bell (Team Card)
7. #96 Jerry Reuss
8. #98 Kevin Ritz (Rookie)
9. #121 Tommy Gregg
10. #126 Cory Snyder
11. #128 Mark Grace
12. #131 Don Aase
13. #139 John Franco
14. #140 Mike LaCoss
15. #152 Don Slaught
16. #167 Barry Larkin
17. #172 Steve Sax
18. #176 Rob Deer
19. #192 Dave Parker
20. #197 Hubie Brooks
21. #203 Jim Clancy
22. #216 Jose Rijo
23. #220 Rick Mahler
24. #232 Ron Gant
25. #238 Dan Gladden
26. #239 Bryan Clutterbuck
27. #253 Carney Lansford
28. #255 Jose DeJesus
29. #264 Kirk Gibson
30. #265 Kevin McReynolds
31. #266 Cal Ripken Jr.
32. #295 Don August *x2
33. #312 Mike Brumley
34. #318 Lee Guetterman
35. #323 Roger Clemens
36. #334 Rickey Henderson
37. #336 Ken Hill
38. #337 Dave Winfield *x3
39. #338 Alfredo Griffin
40. #356 Andres Galarraga

Kmart made some nice oddball sets back in the 80′s before Wal-Mart began stealing their customers.  Here are some 1989 Kmart Dream Team cards I acquired:

1. #15 Cal Ripken
2. #19 Terry Steinbach
3. #24 Ryne Sandberg

2001 Topps Combos #TC16 Cal Ripken/Lou Gehrig

2001 Topps series 2:

1. #558 Brian Moehler
2. #572 Joe Mays
3. #442 Rondell White
4. #595 Dave Mlicki
5. #704 Cristian Guzman
6. Combos #TC16 Cal Ripken/Lou Gehrig
7. #455 Eric Karros
8. #699 Chad Kreuter
9. #610 Bill Haselman
10. #416 Matt Mantei

“Some called Lou Gehrig’s streak of 2,130 consecutive games a record that would never be broken.  Then along came Cal Ripken a half-century later with a run of 2,632.  While no record is unassailable, the legacy of these two “Iron men” will last forever.  Each earned two Most Valuable Player Awards.  Gehrig won a Triple Crown in 1934 and compiled a .361 World Series batting average.  Ripken topped the 3,000-hit milestone and, in 2000, was selected to play in his 18th consecutive All-Star Game.“