By Jonah Sharf
On September 6, 1995, Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles broke Lou Gehrig’s record of most consecutive games played with his 2,131st straight game. Gehrig’s streak had been thought by many to be unbreakable and certainly seemed that way, but Ripken became the one to finally break it after 56 years. Ripken ended up shattering the previous record, finishing his own streak at 2,632 games, 502 more than Gehrig. He was more than just the streak, however, as the shortstop and third baseman was one of the most productive hitters of his era. Ripken earned 19 All-Star selections, two AL MVPs, eight silver sluggers, and won a World Series in 1983. He was a first-ballot Hall of Famer inducted in 2007.