BALTIMORE SPORTS NEST

In postgame ceremonies Cal and Kelly were seated in chairs on the field for more than 30 minutes while the likes of actor Tom Selleck, San Antonio Spur center David Robinson and local legend Johnny Unitas brought them gifts. But the most moving presentation was made by Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Jim Gott, who, as a rookie, was the starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays against the Orioles on May 30, 1982. Gott had allowed onehit in six innings for his first major league victory that day, and he had kept the game ball. But when he walked onto the field Tuesday night, he gave it to Ripken, who was floored by the gesture. "You don't have to do this," Ripken told him.

"I want to," Gott said.

When Ripken undressed at his locker three hours after the game, two attendants stood by tagging and bagging every piece of clothing he peeled off, preparing them for delivery to trophy cases at the Baseball Hall of Fame and elsewhere. "I'm keeping this," Cal said, flipping his protective cup into his locker. He finally left the clubhouse at 1:48 a.m.

After years of blocking out distractions created by the Streak, Ripken finally began to feel overwhelmed, and he had trouble sleeping and eating in the week leading up to the record-breaking game. He barely slept at all the night before number 2,131. "I was sweating so much the sheets and thecomforter were soaking wet," Ripken said. He thought he might have a virus, but he decided it was a case of "nerves."

After he finally dozed off, Ripken awoke at 8:05 and scrambledto take his five-year-old daughter, Rachel, to her first day of kindergarten. Later that day he was able to catch a nap.

At the ballpark Jeff Huson, a journeyman infielder in his first year with the Orioles, was thrilled about starting that night. A lefthanded hitter who platoons at third base with Jeff Manto, Huson had been tracking the Angels' pitching rotation for three weeks, trying to figure out if a righthander might be startingagainst Baltimore on Sept. 6. "I thought I had no chance,because the Angels had four lefthanders in their rotation," hesaid. "Then I saw Shawn Boskie [a righthander] come off thedisabled list. Then I saw on SportsCenter last Friday night thathe would be starting on Sept. 6. I jumped in the air and said, 'Yes!'"

The umpires working the Angel series were just as excited. Al Clark had been scheduled to be behind home plate for therecord-setting game, but out of respect for partner LarryBarnett, who has umpired for 29 years in the American League, he offered to adjust the umpiring rotation so that Barnett wouldcall balls and strikes Wednesday night. Barnett gladly accepted.

"It's the biggest thing that he has come across, and the biggest thing for me in 20 years [of umpiring]," said Clark, who was happy to make the calls at third base for number 2,131 afterworking the plate the night before. He had umpired in four no-hitters, Nolan Ryan's 300th victory, two All-Star Games, two World Series and the 1978 playoff between the New York Yankeesand the Boston Red Sox, but Clark said, "This is huge. Three-hundred-game winners, 500-homer men happen; the World Series is played most every year. This will never happen again."

In the stands behind home plate was Cal's brother Billy, aformer Oriole who spent the 1995 season with the ClevelandIndians' Triple A team in Buffalo. Billy had been given permission to leave his team for two days even though it meant missing Buffalo's opening postseason game. After sitting in thefamily's private box high above the field on Tuesday, he moved into the front row of seats for the historic occasion. "I wanted to sit down near the field," he said. "Tonight, I was more in amazement."

The game was tied 1-1 when Cal prepared to bat in the fourthinning. Billy called to him, and Cal walked from the on-deck circle and shook his brother's hand. "Way to go,'' Billy told him. ("What else would I say?" Billy said later. "I didn't have to tell him how proud I am. He knows. When he came over to shakemy hand, it really pumped me up.") After outfielder Bobby Bonilla homered to break the tie, Ripken crushed a 3-0 pitchfrom Boskie deep into the leftfield seats.

"I will never forget that," Billy said. "I shook his hand before he hit that homer."

Bryan Johnson, a fan sitting in the seats in left with a broken finger on his right hand, caught the ball with his left hand. He was offered thousands of dollars for the souvenir, but he said he wanted Cal to have it--and he wanted nothing in return. (Cal later presented Johnson with an autographed bat and ball.)

No one who was at the game, or even watched it on TV, will ever forget what occurred a short while later, following the top of the fifth, when the game became official. Play was stopped at 9:20, the song Day One poured through the P.A., black and orange balloons were released, and everyone in the Oriole bullpen racedin to stand at the dugout with Ripken and the rest of the team when the number on the warehouse banner changed from 2,130 to2,131. The cheer that went up was perhaps the loudest in thehistory of Baltimore sports. A fan raised his sign to the sky: TODAY, I CONSIDER MYSELF THE LUCKIEST FAN ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH.

With Whitney Houston's One Moment in Time booming out of the stadium speakers and several Oriole players wielding their video cameras, Ripken emerged from the dugout, took off his capand waved thanks to the fans. Then he walked over to the frontrow of seats behind home plate and hugged his wife and his two children, Rachel and Ryan, 2. He took off his jersey and his cap and presented them to his kids. "These are for you," he said.

"That's when I lost it," said Huson. "Every father knew what that meant." Kelly cried. "That's when he showed how much he loves us," she said later.

There were four more curtain calls before Bobby Bonilla and first baseman Rafael Palmeiro pulled Ripken out of the dugoutand made him circle the warning track. As he ran along the track, Ripken slapped hands with fans who were leaning over the rail. When he got to centerfield, he jumped, balanced on his stomach at the top of the fence and high-fived a few fans who had leaped from their seats in the bleachers. Along the way hewaved and pointed at specific fans he recognized. When he got to the third base coaching box, he was intercepted by Barnett and Clark, both of whom shook his hand.

Then he ran to the top step of the visitors' dugout, where all the California players were still standing and clapping. Heshook everyone's hand and hugged several Angels, including hitting coach Rod Carew, Gonzales and manager Marcel Lachemann. Catcher Jorge Fabregas, who was behind the plate, went over to shake Ripken's hand. "I was just so, so honored to be out there,'' he said.

Play was stopped for 22 minutes. If there was a more joyful 22 minutes in baseball, no one could remember it.