As the 1997 season began, Cal Ripken, Jr. had already broken Lou Gehrig’s historic consecutive games played streak and became baseball’s Iron Man. Ripken showed no signs of slowing down as he once again suited up for the Baltimore Orioles for every game in the 1997 season where he batted a solid .270 with 17 home runs and 84 RBI. By late June of 1997 Ripken was batting in the high .290’s as Baltimore hosted division rival Toronto at Camden Yards on June 27th. Ripken recorded two of Baltimore’s 5 total hits as the Blue Jays edged by the Orioles 2-1.

Offered here is the bat that Ripken used to hit an infield single of Blue Jays pitcher Mike Timlin in the bottom of the ninth inning. This hit moved Roberto Alomar over to second base as the tying run and knocked Timlin out of the game as the Orioles tried to rally in the 9th. Unfortunately for the O’s, Paul Spoljaric got B.J. Surhoff to fly out to right field and Alomar was gunned down at 3rd base to end the game. This Louisville Slugger P72 model bat displays outstanding game use with a large crack on the handle from Ripken’s infield single. There are ball marks, stitch impressions and white leather scuffs present on the barrel. Ripken’s number “8” is handwritten in silver marker on the knob. Ripken has also added a piece of athletic tape that is approximately 17 inches long hat has handwritten in black marker “6-27-97 VS Toronto Timlin”. A great gamer tied to a specific at-bat and this comes directly from the personal collection of Cal Ripken, Jr. and a signed LOA from Cal will accompany this bat, along with a LOA from PSA/DNA (1B24127) who have given this bat a high grade of GU 8.5.

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