It’s September 6, 1996, and the first anniversary of Cal Ripken breaking the record for consecutive games played turned into another iconic moment in Orioles history. Eddie Murray gave Orioles fans what they’ve been waiting for, blasting his 500th home run deep into the right field seats. Relive the moment with Eddie here:

Eddie joins Willie Mays and Hank Aaron as the only players to ever have 500 homers and 3,000 hits. (Ed. note: The club now includes seven, with Rafael Palmeiro, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, and Miguel Cabrera joining the list.)

“It’s a neighborhood you don’t know if you belong in yet,” a humbled Murray said in a front-page Sun article from Peter Schmuck. “The third guy to do that? It’s still hard to see yourself mentioned in that same company. Those are guys that everybody knows.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 1A, September 7, 1996)

As you can see in the highlight above, Eddie’s Orioles teammates swarmed him at home plate and a crowd that wasn’t quite the 46,708 in attendance — after a 2+ hour rain delay — went crazy.

“It was nice to see everybody get fired up about it,” Murray added. “Hopefully now, a lot of things will die down so I can get back to hitting the way I’m capable of hitting.”

It ultimately was a bittersweet night for the O’s, as they lost to the lowly Tigers, 5-4, in 12 innings. A pitchers duel unfolded most of the night, with David Wells and Felipe Lira giving up just 3 runs apiece in the first seven innings. 

But Bobby Higginson broke a 4-4 tie in the 12th off Terry Mathews to win it for Detroit.

“It’s a little frustrating,” said O’s outfielder Pete Incaviglia to the Sun’s Buster Olney. “With this type of club, we always feel like we’re in the ballgame, especially when it’s close. With an offense like this, we always think we can win. It’s frustrating, but there’s always tomorrow.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 6C, September 7, 1996)

That’s right. Celebrate Eddie tonight and win tomorrow. The O’s are still one game back of the White Sox in the wild card.

Here’s the box score with the not-so-lovely totals.

The O’s took some time to remember Cal’s unforgettable 2,131st consecutive game on September 6, 1995.

“I think every eye was watching Junior run around the ballpark,” said O’s manager Davey Johnson (who was managing the Cincinnati Reds at the time). “He hit a home run that game. It was just a great movement in history. One-hundred sixty-two later, you have an anniversary. He’s having a great year and we’re in the thick of it. Hope he hits a home run like he did a year ago.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 6C, September 7, 1996)

He didn’t, but Eddie did! (So did Raffy.)

Eddie gets #500. Oh, and Raffy hit one, too.

Tigers (51-89) at Orioles (74-66), 7:05 p.m.

Starting Pitchers
DET – LHP Justin Thompson (1-3, 3.06 ERA)
BAL – RHP Mike Mussina (18-9, 4.80 ERA)

With school back in session, the weekend box office cratered. Newcomer Bulletproof, the Damon Wayans and James Caan joint, topped the box office this week with only a $6 million debut. The fantastic summer of blockbusters is officially over.

Hurricane Fran lashed the Carolinas, with gusts as high as 120 mph causing widespread damage.

It came ashore at Cape Fear in North Carolina and then went up the river to Wilmington.

“The wind has been screaming, blasting through here,” said local resident Grover Gore in a front page wire story. “But right now it’s calm.”

Thousands of people fled inland from the Carolina coast as the huge storm bore down. 

“Believe you me, we wanted to get out of there,” said Audrey Landers, who left her seaside townhouse.

As of publication, the storm had been blamed for two deaths.

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

Local basketball legend Muggsy Bogues is hosting a free kids’ clinic. He is short.