This Day in Sports History - 9/20/1998

After playing in 2,632 consecutive games, Baltimore's Cal Ripken takes himself out of the lineup for tonight's game against the Yankees. It's the Orioles' last home game and the first time that Ripken has missed a game since May 29, 1982. He explains that he wants to end the streak at home with the fans, adding that there were times he thought the focus was too much on the streak and not on the team: "It just reached a point where I firmly believed it was time to change the subject and restore the focus back where it should be."

This Day in Sports History - 1/19/1998

Legendary Los Angeles Lakers play-by-play announcer Chick Hearn, credited with inventing the phrases 'slam dunk', 'charity stripe', 'triple-double' and 'air ball', broadcasts his 3,000th consecutive game. The streak began in 1965 and will eventually reach 3,338 consecutive Lakers games before ending midway through the 2001-02 season when Hearn undergoes cardiac bypass surgery. Hearn also appeared as an announcer in several movies and was the voice on the castaways' radio in the TV series Gilligan's Island.