Rozner: The man on the mound the night Ripken made history

It was hardly the first time Shawn Boskie had been booed and it certainly wasn't the last.

But this was a pitcher who had grown up in the Cubs organization and booing at Wrigley Field was reserved for visiting players. Now as a member of the Angels in 1995, he didn't expect the fans to turn on him at his home park in Anaheim.

That's what happens, however, when an icon is on a celebration tour and you buzz the tower.

It was May 29 and Cal Ripken was in town with the Orioles, only months away from breaking Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played, and Boskie nearly ended the streak with a fastball that got away.

“When they handed out the schedules in spring training, one of the guys was looking at it and somebody said we'll be in Baltimore in September when Cal breaks the record,” said the 53-year-old Boskie from his home in Arizona. “But it's spring training and nobody knows for sure. Injuries happen, right? But we thought it would be cool to be there.

“Well, I'm pitching against them early in the season and Cal came up to the plate and got a huge ovation. I dusted him, but it wasn't on purpose, and our fans booed me. I was like, 'Wow. Popular guy.'

“But you couldn't hurt him. I played with him in Baltimore two years later and the guy was like a kid playing around all the time, wrestling in the clubhouse and getting physical with guys.

“I saw it firsthand. He still had the streak going then and he was doing all the same stuff.”

Ripken survived the Boskie knockdown and the two met again on Sept. 6, 1995, 25 years ago Sunday, when Ripken broke Gehrig's extraordinary record.

“I came off the DL on Sept. 1, so that put me in line to start that game,” said Boskie, who was pitching in his sixth of nine years in the big leagues. “I did nothing to earn it.”

When he was in town broadcasting a few years ago, I reluctantly asked Ripken about The Streak, but he was not at all bored with the subject, and happy to explain that it wasn't something he ever intended.

“When I came up, you just went to the park and played. Everyone did. That's what my dad (Cal Ripken Sr.) taught me,” Ripken said. “You were afraid someone would take your job.

“Lots of guys played every day and lots of guys played through injuries because they wanted to win games and be a part of it. They felt a responsibility.

“That's what I felt, a responsibility to be in the lineup every day and try to help the team win games. The streak kind of just happened.

“I was criticized quite a bit for it, too, but when it got to be near 2,000 games, suddenly it became a positive thing and it was good for baseball. That's when I started to believe there was some meaning to it.

“But mostly I just wanted to play.”

On the night Ripken played his 2,131st straight game, removing Gehrig's name from the top of the list, there were more than 46,000 in Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

The Orioles were 9 games under .500 and nearly 20 games out of first, but in the park that night were President Bill Clinton, VP Al Gore, and owner of perhaps the most unbreakable record in baseball history, Joe DiMaggio.

“There was nothing normal about that night,” Boskie remembers. “Anything involving Cal meant it got very loud and the camera flashes were constant, by the thousands.

“It felt like a World Series game. Guys that played in World Series validated that. Tim Salmon, our right fielder that night, played in the World Series and he has told me it was special like that.”

The game was tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth when Ripken came to the plate for the second time. He worked the count to 3-0 as the crowd stood and roared.

“When it's 3-0, I don't know if he's swinging, and I'm not going to walk him,” Boskie said. “Do I paint a corner? I never really made a decision, which is the worst thing you can do. If you don't throw a pitch with conviction, you're in trouble.

“I threw it right down the middle.”

Ripken jumped on the fastball and blasted it out to deep left field for his 15th home run. The noise was deafening.

“I wasn't trying to do anything special there,” Ripken said. “I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit and drive it into the gap. I got all of it and it went out. It was kind of magical because of how it happened that night.”

Boskie hears about that pitch frequently.

“It's funny because people who are not familiar with sports often apologize, say they're sorry I gave up that home run,” Boskie chuckled. “Look, I have given up a lot of home runs. It was a bad pitch. It happens.

“When I got back to the dugout, (pitcher) Jim Abbott said, 'Dude, that was awesome!' He laughed, but I didn't feel awesome. We were in first place. We needed to win a game. I was sort of disgusted.

“At the same time, the crowd was going crazy. You know, Cal always did the biggest things in the biggest moments with the most people watching. I recognized that and thought, 'Yep, it's Cal's moment. It's what he does.'

“But I really wanted to get him out and I wanted to win the game. Unfortunately, that month did not go well for us.”

The next inning was the fifth and a moment baseball had been dreaming of for years. Three more outs and Ripken would own the longest consecutive games played streak in history. Mike Mussina got the Angels in order and that was it. The game was official, Ripken was the new “Iron Man” and Camden Yards shook with the sound of thunder.

“I was relieved and excited,” Ripken said, “but probably relieved as much as anything that it was over.”

You have seen what occurred next 100 times. The Orioles placed a banner on the brick wall of the B & O Warehouse that stood out above the right field fence. It read, simply: “2130.” As everyone watched, the number changed to “2131.” Cameras flashed and fans roared again. Ripken took a step out of the dugout and tipped his cap, as if that would be enough. The ovation continued uninterrupted and no one was quite sure what would happen next.

“It kind of all hit me then and it was emotional,” Ripken said. “It's ridiculous to think of yourself in the same sentence as Lou Gehrig. That's Lou Gehrig you're taking about. It was overwhelming.

“I was taking a deep breath and getting it together when Bobby Bonilla and Rafael Palmeiro said I had to go out and take a lap around the field or the crowd would never stop. That's where that came from. It was their idea.”

During a 22-minute standing ovation, Ripken jogged slowly along the warning track, slapping hands with fans, making a complete circle around the park.

And Shawn Boskie just chilled in the visiting dugout.

After the very long delay, in the bottom of the fifth Boskie - with the crowd standing and screaming again - got Ripken to pop out with the bases loaded on the first pitch to end the inning, but Baltimore would go on to get the 4-2 victory.

“It's not too often in life that you get to be a part of history that a large segment of our society is aware of. That's not a normal thing,” Boskie said. “I cherish it that way.

“I played with Cal a few years later and I have a lithograph from that game and he signed it to me. It's my favorite piece of memorabilia.

“I remember asking Cal if he had ever watched it and he said he hadn't. I said, 'Me, neither.' I want to keep the memories I have and not have them tainted. They're my memories.

“It probably hits me more when I get texts from people saying they saw me on TV and I know that game must have been on. It's a fond memory.

“Baseball wasn't doing well at the time and people just appreciated what he did for the game. He's the real deal, just like you see him on TV. You don't frequently come across someone that genuine, especially such a big celebrity.

“I really respect the man and what he accomplished, and in a small way I feel lucky to have been a part of that night.”

Luckier still, is Shawn Boskie, that he didn't end the streak with a pitch that got away.