Two days before the sports world stopped turning in March, MLB staffers were set to meet with those representing Baltimore Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. in New York City to plan the 25th anniversary of the Hall of Fame shortstop breaking Lou Gehrig’s record of playing in 2,130 consecutive games. Then the pandemic hit, along with the accompanying shutdown of spectator sports.
After officialy playing in his 2,131st consecutive game on Sept. 6, 1995, Cal Ripken Jr. took a lap around Camden Yards thanking fans.getty images
The commemoration of Ripken’s milestone last Sunday was a small miracle in its own right. It was scheduled to include a ceremonial first pitch from Cal to his son Ryan, an infielder in the Orioles system, which served as the opening pitch for the O’s and was to be shown across MLB games. The anniversary also included a programming “takeover” on MLB.com and an hourlong MLB Network special “The Streak: 25 Years Later.”
“At a time when the sports marketing industry was stuck in neutral, we were happy to get all this done, especially for someone who’s easily one of the game’s most famous living players,” said Steve Rosner, partner at 16W Marketing, in East Rutherford, N.J., the agency that represented Ripken for marketing from 2006-13 and reunited with him for marketing efforts attached to the 25th.
Commercial affiliations included longtime exclusive MLB trading-card rights holder Topps producing a 50-card set (autographed $125; standard $25) that Ripken helped select. Additional commercial support included a licensing/endorsement deal with mobile game producer Glu Mobile; a digital and social content deal with technology firm Smartlink; and an affiliation with Exosome Diagnostics, whose product helped diagnose in February that Ripken had prostate cancer. Ripken recently pronounced himself “cancer free” after surgery performed in March. He’s hoping to raise awareness for testing and early detection of prostate cancer.
16W Marketing
“We’ve all been affected by cancer, so this was meaningful to Cal and to us,” said Rosner. “We could all use something now to celebrate and that’s how we ended up positioning the streak.”
The streak was largely hailed for helping MLB bounce back from the disastrous strike that had canceled the previous year’s World Series. The record-breaking night on Sept. 6, 1995, included a home run by Ripken, an appearance by President Bill Clinton, a postgame speech from Joe DiMaggio and a memorable 22-minute delay after the game became official in the top of the fifth inning in which Ripken circled Camden Yards to accept congratulations from Orioles fans.
Ripken’s record run eventually came to an end on Sept. 20, 1998, at 2,632 consecutive games.
