Everyone keeps talking about Brett Favre’s streak, what about Cal Ripken, Jr?

Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

That’s four whole games short of where it would have ended if Favre had completed the season and retired. Or four games short of where it might have ended if Jenn Sterger’s crew had forced Favre off the field for sexual harassment. No matter where you lived or how little you care about sports, you heard about Favre’s streak coming to a close. A streak, mind you, that began before Miley Cyrus was even born. (Can we go back to then for a week, just to forget about Miley?)

ESPN, for the billionth time, morphed into the Favre Network to breathlessly update us on the quarterback’s consecutive games streak coming to a close. It was all Favre all the time. In the process, the network’s Favre hosannas served to minimize what remains the most impressive endurance feat in team sports history: Cal Ripken, Jr’s consecutive games streak in Major League Baseball.

That one lasted 2,632 games and stretched from 1982-98. You might have forgotten about it seeing as how back in the quaint year of 1998 the media onslaught wasn’t as all-consuming as it is today. My misguided colleague David Whitley is arguing that Favre’s streak is more impressive, but he’s as off-kilter as Tom Brady’s hairstyle.

See, teams design their entire game plans around protecting pocket passers today. Don’t believe me? Who are the best quarterbacks in the game today? Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Tom Brady, and Philip Rivers would be a good collection, right?

Well, every single one of these quarterbacks has a consecutive games streak that ranks in the top 15 all-time in NFL history. Every. Single. One. Peyton Manning, at 204 games, has started every game of his NFL career and one day could break Favre’s record. But each of these men is their respective team’s franchise and all five of these quarterbacks ranks in the top 15 all-time in consecutive games played.

Will Peyton break Favre’s mark?
Think anyone will ever make a run at Cal Ripken, Jr.’s 2,632 number? The current consecutive games played streak in Major League Baseball is Matt Kemp’s 204. That’s only 2,428 off the pace. Or 15 seasons of playing every game. Good luck with that. Only seven players in major league history have even reached 1,000 consecutive games played.

Seven.

Looking closer at the consecutive games streak in baseball, Ripken is more than 500 games ahead of Lou Gehrig, who sits at 2,130. The next closest? Someone named Everett Scott who played 1,307 consecutive games. That means that Ripken is over 1,300 games better than the third place all-time streak. Let me write this clearly — Cal Ripken beat the third all-time consecutive games streak in major league baseball by 1,325 games.

He doubled the third-longest streak of all-time.

Ripken did all this while playing shortstop, one of the most dangerous positions on the field. While the goal of every defensive player is to hit the quarterback, the goal of every base runner is to take out the shortstop on a double play. More balls fly in the direction of shortstop than any other position and when you step up to bat the goal of every pitcher throwing 100 miles an hour is to protect his plate. Baseball isn’t as physically demanding as football on an individual game basis, but it’s more grueling over time. There’s a reason that only one player in major league history has even come within a thousand games of Ripken’s streak.

Currently, the NFL’s consecutive games played streak is held by a punter, Jeff Feagles, at 352 consecutive games. Favre made it 297 as a quarterback, the longest streak of any signal caller in NFL history. But there are many players within hailing distance of Favre’s mark. Ripken’s? No one is even within 15 seasons of it.

Both accomplishments are tremendous, but only one consecutive games streak is transcendent. There will be another Brett Favre. But there will never, ever be another Cal Ripken, Jr. Over 12 years after his consecutive games streak ended, Ripken’s accomplishments continue to astound and amaze. Favre’s streak ending gives us a chance to reconsider, once more, how truly amazing Ripken’s consecutive games streak really was. It’s the most-amazing feat in all of sports.

Written by Clay Travis