Cal Ripken, Jr. broke the Baltimore Orioles all-time hit record using this Louisville Slugger P72 bat when he tied and surpassed that other great Baltimore infielder, Brooks Robinson, for team career hits on August 20th and 21st, 1998. In the August 20th game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Ripken’s 10th home run of the season and 380th of his career tied Robinson, while the game against Cleveland, Cal hit an infield single off Jaret Wright in the seventh inning, passing Brooks’ record of 2,848 Orioles career hits. This was the bat the Orioles legend was using for those milestone hits. This Louisville Slugger bat displays outstanding game use and has a crack on the handle. There are ball marks, stitch impressions, blue ink transfers and cleat imprints present on the barrel. There is a moderate to heavy coating of pine tar on the handle. Ripken has applied a piece of athletic tape on the barrel that has printed in black “8-21-98 Hit To Tie Oriole Record – 8-20-98 Single Break it 8-21-98”. Ripken has also signed this bat in contrasting silver marker on the barrel above the athletic tape and inscribed “Ties + Breaks Oriole Hit Record August 20-21, 1998”. This bat comes directly from the personal collection of Cal Ripken, Jr. and a signed LOA from Cal will accompany this milestone bat.

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