Hall of Famer and baseball’s Ironman Cal Ripken, Jr., in the season after he broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak, put up a solid Triple Crown slash line of .278/26/102 as the Orioles made a surprising appearance in the 1996 American League Championship Series. Offered here is a Louisville Slugger P72 model bat used by Ripken during the 1996 season and for the final time during the July 22nd, 1996 against the Minnesota Twins. Ripken broke this bat in the bottom of the 7th inning against Twins pitcher Mike Trombley when he grounded out to third base. Ripken, in his previous three at-bats, hand two hits and a groundout. This bat displays outstanding game use and has a crack on the handle from that 7th-inning at-bat. There are ball marks, stitch impressions, blue ink transfers and slight checking or grain swelling from repeated contact present on the barrel. Ripken has added a piece of athletic tape to the barrel that reads “7-22-96 vs Minn Trombley 4th AB” in black marker. This bat has recently been signed and inscribed "7-22-96" in bold silver marker on the barrel by Cal and comes directly from the personal collection of Cal Ripken, Jr. with a signed LOA from Cal that will accompany this item. This bat also comes with a LOA from PSA/DNA (1B24134) for the game use and has been given a very high grade of GU 9.

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