Orioles sensational ace who replaced Ripken after streak, dies at 49
Ryan Minor, the Baltimore Orioles infielder who became part of baseball history when he replaced Cal Ripken at the end of his record-setting consecutive games streak in 1998, has died. He was 49.
The University of Oklahoma — where Minor starred in baseball and basketball — said he died of cancer Friday. The Orioles also released a statement on social media.
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of former third baseman and longtime minor league manager Ryan Minor, who courageously fought cancer,” the Orioles said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Ryan’s family and friends at this time.”
Drafted by the Orioles in 1996, Minor made his big league debut late in the 1998 season. Then, a week later — Sept. 20 — he was thrust into the spotlight. In the team’s final home game of the season, Ripken decided to end his streak at 2,632 consecutive games. Minor started at third base for the first time in his career.
“I had no idea when I was coming to the park,” Minor said at the time.
Minor went on to play parts of four seasons for the Orioles and Montreal Expos, appearing in 142 major league games. This summer, the Delmarva Shorebirds — an Orioles minor league affiliate — made his No. 44 the first jersey number in team history to be retired. He hit 24 home runs for Delmarva in 1997 while working his way toward the majors, and he later managed the team from 2010 to 2012 and 2014 to 2017. He also had multiple stints managing the Frederick Keys.
At Oklahoma, Minor pitched and played first base. He helped the Sooners win a national title in baseball in 1994, and he was named Big Eight Player of the Year in 1995 on the basketball court. The 6-foot-6 Minor finished with 1,946 points and was drafted in the second round by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1996, the same year the Orioles took him.
The Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame recently announced that Minor would be part of its 2024 class of inductees.
NEW YORK — Alex Verdugo complied with the New York Yankees’ rule against facial hair by a lot more than a whisker. He clipped off his red beard two months before spring training.
“My mom loves it,” he said Thursday, showing off his impeccably shaved face during a Zoom news conference. “My mom thinks I look like her little boy again. She says I look like I’m back in high school.”
New York acquired the 27-year-old outfielder from the Boston Red Sox on Dec. 5 for right-handers Greg Weissert, Richard Fitts and Nicholas Judice, part of an offseason makeover that included getting slugging All-Star Juan Soto in a trade with San Diego the following day.
Yankees owner George Steinbrenner issued a code in 1976 banning facial hair, lengthy locks that dropped below the collar and long sideburns. Once Verdugo was dealt to New York, he felt razor focused to conform.
“It was kind of bothering me, man. That was the biggest thing going to the Yankees, you have to be clean shaven,” he said. “I haven’t been clean shaven since high school and even then, I would have some stuff on my chin, some things like that. It was just kind of eating at me. And I was like, you know what, I don’t even know how I look without a beard. I want to cut it up, see how it feels. And then also, I wanted to – since you have to keep up the shaving. I wanted to see like how my skin would react to constantly shaving and keeping it clean.”
Verdugo had liked the beard for warmth.
“It feels like a fresh start,” he said. “I feel like a kid again.”
Speaking from his home in Arizona, Verdugo said he has been working out in a Yankees cap. He wore No. 27 with Boston, a number held by Giancarlo Stanton in New York. Verdugo said he’ll wait until he gets a new pendant to reveal his new jersey.
He hit .264 with 13 homers, 54 RBI and a .745 OPS this year in his fourth season with the Red Sox. A Gold Glove finalist, he had 12 outfield assists and nine defensive runs saved.
New York manager Aaron Boone thinks the left-handed-hitting Verdugo could benefit from Yankee Stadium’s short porch.
“I think there’s more in there,” Boone said. “I don’t necessarily think he’s reached his potential. So hopefully this environment for him and obviously entering the last year before free agency, there’s a lot carrots out there.”
Verdugo bristled when he first learned of the trade.
“I was hot. I was just like, man, they really me sent to rivals, the Yankees?” he said.
Verdugo was benched twice last season by Boston manager Alex Cora: on June 8 for not hustling between first and second on a grounder a night earlier, and on Aug. 5 for arriving late at the ballpark.
“It toughens me up and it makes me realize some things,” Verdugo said. “I’m not too sure 100% what it was. It could also be you’re struggling on a baseball team. It’s just there’s a lot of expectations and when you’re not really meeting them, you kind of start bumping heads a little bit.”
He complimented Boone for defending his players, citing the profane 2019 rant at umpire Brennan Miller in which the manager praised his team as “savages.”
