It’s June 21, 1996, and Cal Ripken, Jr., launched two home runs as the O’s cruised past the Royals 9-3 in front of 47,644 people at Camden Yards.

Arthur Rhodes pitched 3⅓ innings out of the bullpen to earn the win. He is now 8-0 on the season.

That Rhodes had to pitch so much was the sole reason for concern after tonight’s game. Rookie starter Rocky Coppinger — making his third career start — had to leave the game when he was hit in the ankle by a sharp line drive by Jose Offerman.

“I hated to see that happen to Rocky,” Rhodes said. “He was throwing the ball real good. I wanted to come in and shut them down the same way he did.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 1C, June 22, 1996)

Coppinger only gave up one run in 3⅓ innings, but did give up five hits and three walks, so there was a lot of traffic on the basepaths. As the Sun’s Peter Schmuck notes, Rhodes is the first Baltimore pitcher since Wayne Garland in 1976 to open the season with eight straight victories.

“The good news is that Rocky’s all right,” O’s manager Davey Johnson said. “He had a severe bruise on his push-off leg. He just couldn’t push off. I didn’t want him trying to adjust to that out there. He’s got too good a future to take any chances with him. He’ll probably be OK for his next start.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 8C, June 22, 1996)

After a slow start, Ripken is now on pace for 33 homers and a career-high 128 RBI. He has been on a tear since he hit three home runs in a game in Seattle a few weeks ago. “It’s good to have a break-out game like in Seattle,” Cal said to the Sun’s Jason LaCanfora. “I felt more relaxed on the inside. It was good to get some hits and home runs and play the game at ease.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 8C, June 22, 1996)

Catcher Chris Hoiles and third baseman B.J. Surhoff also hit home runs for the Orioles as they had little trouble in this one.

Here’s the box score with the lovely totals.

The Royals are great at giving out bricks. Two for Cal and one each for Hoiles and Surhoff.

Royals (31-42) vs. Orioles (38-31), 1:05 p.m.
KCR – RHP Tim Belcher (6-2, 4.53 ERA)
BAL – RHP Scott Erickson (3-5, 5.47 ERA)

We have a new number one movie in the U.S. this week, as the Arnold Schwarzenegger joint “Eraser” topped the box office in its first weekend. It grossed $24,566,446, narrowly beating out another new movie, Disney’s animated feature “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” which pulled in $21,037,414. The greatest movie ever made, “The Rock,” came in a strong third, while last week’s number one, “The Cable Guy,” dropped to fourth.

The Supreme Court, as it has ever since, continues to act in the interests of wealth and power. In an 8-1 ruling that is decisively anti-labor, the justices “gave management in professional sports and many other industries the power to set wages and other benefits if bargaining breaks down,” according to Sun reporter Lyle Denniston.

The ruling, Brown v. Pro Football, Inc., which centered on an NFL case, broadens the antitrust immunity for NFL teams and allows management to impose conditions on workers if negotiations break down. Crucially, this also includes the same conditions that unions rejected during those negotiations.

The obvious result is that work stoppages will be more likely, because the union doesn’t have much leverage beyond a strike to get management back to the bargaining table. There is still an option of going to the National Labor Relations Board, but the NLRB can’t do much beyond slap management on the wrist for operating in “bad faith.”

As the Sun notes this ruling is about way more than just football: 

Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the majority opinion and was joined by William Rehnquist, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Sandra Day O’Connor, David Souter, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Only John Paul Stevens dissented.

Welcome to a recurring segment where I find fun things in today’s (in 1996) Baltimore Sun!

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