On Sept. 19, 1998, Cal Ripken Jr. played in his 2,632nd consecutive game. The following evening, he removed himself from the lineup, and rookie third basemen Ryan Minor started in his place – a move that, according to Ripken, Minor initially believed was a little bit of “rookie hazing.”
Stats aside: The “Iron Man” Streak began on May 30, 1982. The day prior, Ripken actually did play, but sat out the second game of Baltimore’s doubleheader, playing only in game one.
Ryan Minor was drafted four different times, originally by the Baltimore Orioles (15th round) in June 1992, then by the New York Mets (7th round) in June 1995, again by the Orioles (33rd round) in June 1996, and lastly, by the Philadelphia 76ers (32nd overall) later on that same month.
Minor, despite being an All-American basketball player at Oklahoma, averaging 22.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game between his junior and senior seasons; despite being drafted earlier overall by the Sixers than the round in which the Orioles had selected him just 22 days before, opted to play baseball, signing with the Orioles on July 7, 1996.
Here is where it gets even more interesting…
Minor was the Sixers third selection, of four, in that draft. Their second, immediately prior, at 31st overall, was Mark Hendrickson, out of Washington State, who was taken in every single MLB draft from 1992 to 1997.
Hendrickson, unlike Minor, did give basketball a shot. But after a short, unsuccessful stint in the NBA, he returned to baseball, having never fully abandoned the game, playing semi-pro ball during the NBA’s offseasons. Hendrickson would go on to have a 10-year big league career, making the plurality of his career appearances with Minor’s Orioles.
If this isn’t weird enough, the Sixers would use their final pick of the 1996 draft, 43rd overall, to take Jamie Feick, who did not go on to be a professional baseball player, but, after a short NBA career, a professional fisherman.
Fortunately for Philadelphia, the Sixers did utilize their first pick, and first overall, in the 1996 draft on an actual basketball player – though he was the AP High School Player of the Year in both basketball and football – from the Georgetown Hoyas, No. 3, Allen Iverson.
