It’s May 21, 1996, and after a 2-plus hour rain delay, the California Angels got off to a hot start and never looked back. Rex Hudler led off the game with a homer off Rick Krivda and Don Slaught followed with one of his own as the Angels cruised to a 5-2 win in Baltimore.

Because of the rain delay, the game ended too late to be included in the Sun the next day. So we don’t have a ton to report on. Rafael Palmeiro had three hits for the Birds, raising his average to .301.

Krivda gave up four runs over six innings. Reliever Archie Corbin made his O’s debut, pitching the final three innings. 

Here is the box score with the not-so-lovely totals. 

The big news of the day was that shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr., has agreed to move to third base if needed. With B.J. Surhoff on the disabled list, manager Davey Johnson floated the idea of moving Ripken to third and having Manny Alexander play short.

“The issue is clear,” Cal said to the Sun’s Buster Olney. “Whatever the manager asks me to do, I will do …. A player is a player and a manager is a manager.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 1D, May 22, 1996)

Now that the move is likely, the question is when will it happen? Johnson has an answer: “When you see his name in the lineup [at third], that will be the next time you hear about from me about this.” Ok then.

The Sun’s John Eisenberg compared Cal’s plight to working people everywhere:

Stay tuned for how this Cal saga plays out.

No homers today, sadly.

Angels (21-23) vs. Orioles (24-19), 7:35 p.m.

Starting Pitchers
CAL – LHP Jim Abbott (1-6 5.81 ERA)
BAL – RHP Jimmy Haynes (1-4, 7.18 ERA)

For the second week in a row, Cleveland’s finest, Bone Thugs ‘N Harmony own the top of the charts with “Tha Crossroads.” This week we’ll look across the pond, where Gina G’s classic “Ooh Aah … Just a Little Bit” tops the charts in the UK.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court struck down a Colorado constitutional amendment that denied LGBTQ people all forms of government protection against discrimination. The draconian amendment would have repealed all existing anti-gay laws in the state and no new ones could have been created except by amending the state constitution.

It is the biggest legal victory for gay rights to date, and it comes after a decades-long fight.

“[This] marks a sea change in the struggle of lesbians and gay men for equality in America,” said Matthew Coles of the ACLU as quoted in the Sun. “It establishes as a general principle that lesbians and gay men are entitled to the same constitutional protections granted to everyone else.”

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

Inveterate bigot Gary Bauer, head of the Family Research Council, was salty. “[This ruling] should send chills down the back of anyone who cares whether the people of this nation any longer have the power of self-rule,” he said, histrionically.

Anyway, here’s some footage of Bauer falling off the stage while trying to flip a pancake during his ill-fated 2000 presidential campaign. Stay mad, Gary!

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

Oh look, it’s a couple of our fascist tech overlords back when they had hair.