It’s June 5, 1996, and a Ripken put on a star performance to power the Orioles past the Tigers, 6-4. Oh, but it wasn’t Cal, it was Billy. 

Billy Ripken had three hits, including a home run. He scored twice and drove in two runs. Roberto Alomar also added a homer as one of his two hits. He is still hitting .405 and has hit safely in 19 straight games.

Billy nearly missed the game with back pain, but at first pitch, there he was playing third base. At this point in time, his OPS – on-base plus slugging – is .821. His brother’s is .792.

But all eyes are on Alomar, who has been everything the O’s could have hoped for in his first season with the club.

“I thought he was the best player in the American League the first time I saw him,” Tigers manager Buddy Bell said to the Sun’s Buster Olney. “Now, he might be the best player in baseball.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 1D, June 6, 1996)

Starting against his former team, O’s lefty David Wells couldn’t hold a 4-1 lead and let Detroit tie it up with three runs in the 6th. But Arthur Rhodes held them there for the next two innings, allowing the Birds to take the lead on a pair of run-scoring hits in the 8th, one by each Ripken. Randy Myers pitched a perfect 9th for his 12th save.

Here’s the box score with the lovely totals.

Across the field, Tigers outfielder Curtis Pride was playing close to home for the first time and had 300 friends and family in attendance. A native of Silver Spring, Pride was born 95% deaf. Per Brad Snyder in the Sun, Pride is the fifth deaf player to reach the major leagues and the first since Dick Sipek in 1945.

“I don’t want to be known as Curtis Pride a deaf ballplayer,” he said. “I want to be known as Curtis Pride, a good ballplayer.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 5D, June 6, 1996)

Pride was 0-for-2 with an RBI in the game. He is hitting .261 with three home runs on the season.

“He’s a major-league player,” said Tigers third-base coach and future MLB managing legend Terry Francona. “He learns, he works hard, he’s part of our ballclub.”

In the 33rd round of the MLB draft, the Orioles selected Oklahoma basketball (and baseball) star Ryan Minor. He is widely expected to go in the first round of the NBA draft, so this is just a flier for the O’s. (Spoiler alert: He would eventually commit to baseball and make his major league debut in 1998. He is best known for starting at third base the day that Cal decided to end his streak.)

In search of another reliever, the O’s signed righty Todd Frohwirth to a minor league deal. He pitched with the O’s from 1991 to 1993. We’ll see if he makes it back to the majors at some point and can take some of the pressure off of Roger McDowell, who is pitching almost every other game.

A brick for Cal’s little brother, Billy, and also one for Robbie Alomar.

Tigers (13-45) at Orioles (31-23), 7:35 p.m.

Starting Pitchers
DET – RHP Felipe Lira (3-4, 6.40 ERA)
BAL – RHP Jimmy Haynes (2-5, 8.06 ERA)

The #1 song in America on June 5, 1996, is still “Tha Crossroads” from Cleveland’s finest, Bone Thugs N Harmony. So we’ll head over to the Alternative chart, where the new top song this week is Tracy Bonham’s “Mother Mother.” Enjoy…EVERYTHING’S FINE!!!

On the front page is a large photo showing more than 15,000 people gathered at a candlelight ceremony in Hong Kong to remember the hundreds killed in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square seven years ago. In other news, President Bill Clinton and challenger Bob Dole are engaged in a near-sighted battle over who could offer the most enticing tax cuts.

Clinton is highlighted in today’s paper, as he has proposed a tax credit worth $3,000 during the first two years of college for students from families earning less than $100,000. Let’s see how cool it would be. Is it means tested? You betcha. Is it enough to make a difference in the systemic problem it’s trying to address? No. Ah well, that’s the new Democratic Party way.

“Today, more than ever before in the history of the United States, education is the fault line — the great Continental Divide — between those who will prosper and those who will not in the new economy,” Clinton said. “This is about far more than economics and money. It is about preserving the quality of our democracy.”

The proposal, as insufficient as it is, will still go nowhere in the Republican-controlled Congress. As the Sun points out, even though both candidates are eager to offer tax cut carrots to voters, they are also both fetishizing a “balanced budget” that is A) an arbitrary goal steeped in bullshit and B) only going to be made worse by tax cuts.

Anyway, if you haven’t gotten the point by now, 1996 was certainly the precipice from which we fell into the era of mass corporate greed and billionaire oligarchy that we live in today.

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

The Ravens introduced their new logo.