I’VE PASSED CAL RIPKEN!!

Blogging, family, happiness, humor, lessons learned, rankings, sports, writing 2 Minutes

I first mentioned Cal Ripken back in a post on August 2, 2015, when I noted that he was my favorite baseball player of all time.

My next mention of Cal was on December 31, 2015. That date represented one year of blogging, 365 straight days. In that post, I wrote the following:

Now that I’ve hit my goal of one straight year of daily blogging, I guess my next goal is Cal Ripken Jr.’s streak of 2,632 consecutive games. That means I’ve only got about six more years to go…

I’m sure when I wrote that, six years seemed like quite a long time. And I am sure it was also written partly in jest.

The next mention of Cal was on May 14, 2016, when I achieved 500 straight days of blogging. Here is an excerpt from that post:

Next up as my consecutive days blogging goal is Cal Ripken’s record of playing in 2,632 consecutive baseball games. That’s just about 5 years away. Will blogs still exist at that point? Will I have exhausted every possible idea for a blog post? I’m looking forward to finding out.

Well, blogs still exist, and somehow I have not yet exhausted every possible idea for a blog post (although I am sure some of you are thinking – “please, just take a day off. even better, how about a week.”)

And today, once I hit the Publish button for this post, will be the day I break Cal’s streak – this post represents 2,633 straight days of blogging.

When I found out that March 17, 2022, would be the day I hit my goal, I was quite excited that it would be St. Patrick’s Day, one of my favorite days of the year. It seemed like the luck of the Irish was on my side.

Tonight we went out for dinner to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day, and I honored the occasion by having two pints of Guinness – one for St. Paddy’s Day, and one for my blogging streak.

At this point, I have not really looked much beyond today in terms of setting a new goal for my blog. But I do plan to continue posting every day; at this point, it’s just part of my daily routine.

One change I will make is that I will occasionally feature a previously written post, something I have never done. Given that I had close to 0 followers for the first several years, the odds are quite high that no one has read some of my older posts.

Thank you to all who have supported me in this quest by following my blog, and by liking and commenting on my posts. I have noted before how wonderful the WordPress community is, and I look forward to being part of it for a long time…

P.S. Cal and I have another connection. Cal ended his streak on September 20, 1998. September 20 just so happens to be my birthday.

P.P.S. My middle son was also a fan of Cal, and for his confirmation present, he said he would like to go to a Baltimore Orioles game. Through a family friend, we were able to get tickets for July 21, 1997, and my wife, son, and I drove down for the day. I don’t know who was more excited, my son or me. As fate would have it though, Cal got thrown out of the game in the second inning for questioning a called third strike. It kept his streak going, but we didn’t get to see too much of him that day! (you can read about the game here)

*top image from the Baltimore Sun

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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103 thoughts on “I’VE PASSED CAL RIPKEN!!”

  1. Congratulations, Jim, on your fantastic streak for the record books! 👌 Now that you’ve celebrated with a Guinness, you should contact Guinness and see if you qualify for a mention in their book of world records. I’m just glad you didn’t have a power outage at your house today. That would have been very disappointing.

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    1. thanks, Margie. and yes, sometimes I wonder what takes more time, to write a blog, or to read other people’s blogs and leave comments, as well as reply to comments on my posts. but it is a labor of love 🙂

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  9. And here I thought you were trying to get in the Tire Hall of Fame. I will look for a way to contact Ripken and see if I can send him this post. The part about him getting kicked out of the game makes for the best story.

    My son, probably about seven years old at the time, accompanied some of my buddies and me to his first professional game in San Francisco. They were playing his favorite team, the Braves. I kid you not—he knew all the Braves players. (I think TBS aired the Braves games back in the day.) His favorite was Chipper Jones. We got into the stadium during the top of the first and took our seats, just when Chipper came up to bat. He hit a foul ball in our direction, I leaned over, stuck out my glove out, and caught it. Wrong! It tipped off the edge of my glove. That would have been the best story ever. The official scorer ruled it was not an error on Springer, but I took it hard.

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    1. that catch would have been icing on the cake. did your son know how close you had come to catching a foul ball? I’m always amazed to see those videos of people catching fly balls with one bare hand while a holding a beer or a baby!

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      1. Yep, he was sitting next to me. Talk about the old man letting him down. I should have said, “That’s life, kid. Get used to being disappointed.”

        Holding a beer or a baby while catching a baseball is a surefire way to get on television. You’ve got me imagining the scene as I turn to some random fan at the ballpark. “Hey, can I borrow your baby a minute?”

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  12. congrats to you and cal, both! i’m guessing he just created that streak so you would do the same. i’m all for reposting past posts, as like you, it was only the cat who read my first posts, and occasionally the family under duress. i see so many connections between you and cal. coincidence? i think not.

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  13. Congratulations, my friend! A proud accomplishment. I cannot understate the amount of dedication and persistence needed to meet a goal like this. You were the one that inspired me to write and post every day. One of the greatest assets to any blog is consistency and you have brought that in spades. But most of all, you humor and perspective about the common things that unite us as a society has always been entertaining and appreciated.

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      1. Rounders is a girl’s game here 😂

        Good to know my team’s star player is known over there. He’s in the form of his life at present – the change of head coach has done him good.

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      3. Yup. We just played cricket 😊

        Harry Kane: Spurs through and through, England captain, coveted by many. Arguably the best centre forward in the world at present. I’d hate to see him leave!

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      5. Spurs need him, he’d be a huge loss.

        Good luck with that! Watching cricket at the moment – West Indies vs England, second test match in a three match series. Fairly evenly balanced so far.

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      7. Of course! It’s being played in Bridgetown, and the aerial shots are glorious.

        I doubt if it is available. I get it as part of my main tv package, but as it is a paid channel it’s unlikely to be a free watch anywhere else. I just looked at the official W Indies site but they aren’t streaming it, sorry.

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  15. Hmm, I wonder if WordPress has tracked any blogging streaks. Possibly, you’re the most prolific and steady blogger of all time. A while back, I suggested that I might rewrite some old posts (heavily edit anyway) and repost them. To date, I’ve only done that once (last post).

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    1. I think I’ve seen some people who seemed to have been blogging forever. Seth Godin comes to mind…

      If I share any old posts, there will probably be only light editing 🙂

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  16. There are times I miss blogging a single thing for weeks. For you to do it daily for so long is quite an achievement. Congratulations!

    I made Guinness stew last night and forgot to take the chef’s sip. Poured the whole bottle in. Sigh. Your pic made me sad all over. I love Guinness. I hope you enjoyed the celebration.

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    1. thanks, Staci. Sorry to hear about your missing out on the chef’s sip. And Guinness is my favorite beer… We did have a nice time being out. It was packed, and loud. Like the good old days!

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  19. Congrats on your streak and breaking Cal’s number
    – and Jim / I have briefly interacted with you in blog world (glad for it) and of course I see your gravatar around 😊
    And I actually wondered your story (and had meaning to come around and ask or read the about page or explore back posts when I had extra time) and so coming here today gave me so much insight!
    —
    I think it was when I read your post titled something like “what am I going to blog about today” when I wondered shown you went about the posting.
    —
    Now I know!
    And I can see how this daily routine for that many years had become a part of you!
    I wonder how many hours a day or week you spend on the blog? I am sure it varies…
    -/
    Oh and regarding Cal.
    My boys played youth baseball for one season – in 2005 – and so many things had Cal Ripkin’s name on it !!
    And how cool you and son were able to attend the 1997 game !

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    1. thank you!

      as for my time spent on the blog, it probably averages about 90 minutes a day to come up with an idea and to then write it (the idea part if the most consuming). It’s probably another 90 minutes or so reading and commenting on other blogs and responding to comments on my own posts. It’s a significant amount of time, but I do enjoy the interaction.

      and I remember all those Cal Ripken Little Leagues, although my boys never played in one…

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      1. I am glad we only did one season – our family did better with soccer (and the lacrosse for three years and it was three years too many)
        And the interaction is worth it 😉

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      2. our boys stopped playing sports once they went to high school. I always enjoyed when they played when they were younger, often volunteering as a coach.

        and yes, the interaction is worth it…

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  21. Oh wow that is an insanely amazing achievement! I have no idea how you did that or how you came up with those many posts. I could barely do 365 days and a lot of them were reblogs lol. I look forward to reading some of your older posts as well as the new ones!

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  22. I’m ringing the bells and tooting the horns for you, Jim! That’s quite a milestone, and any association with Cal Ripkin is a feather in your cap. I watched that game on TV. It was the longest standing ovation ever. Too bad he was thrown out of the game you and your son went to.

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  25. Congratulations, Jim, and a great post on a great day. I decided I could give myself a break by republishing some posts from 2016 and 2017 because only a couple people ever read them and they would not remember anyway. But I learned that saved no time because I couldn’t stop myself from revising and rewriting and that took longer than writing a new post!

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