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I hate this record--everybody needs a mental health day as they say. I am convinced the Orioles would have won more titles during the Cal years if Ripken had taken a day or two off each season. One of those 2 years Cuddy led the Twins in games played--Gardy forced him to take a day--and the other days off were due to his father-in-law's funeral here in DC.

I hate this record--everybody needs a mental health day as they say. I am convinced the Orioles would have won more titles during the Cal years if Ripken had taken a day or two off each season. One of those 2 years Cuddy led the Twins in games played--Gardy forced him to take a day--and the other days off were due to his father-in-law's funeral here in DC.

I completely agree.

Of course it depends on the player, but these schedules are grueling. A day off here and there, especially for players over 30 years of age, is probably good for them and good for the team.

I'll take it from another angle... I like the entire 25 man roster to be used... I'd like to see players take a break just to get the other players in.

 

The bench players will be needed at some time and they need some game action to prepare. What happened to Parmelee last year wasn't good. I'm on Gardy's side but I think he made a mistake with how he handled Parmelee last year.

I don't think Ripken's lack of mental health days was as much of a factor as was the fact that the Orioles had awful pitching in the late '80's through the mid '90's. They also didn't surround him with much offense after Eddie Murray left in 1988 until they signed Rafael Palmeiro in 1994 which is when they became playoff contenders again. They stopped being playoff contenders at about the time they bizarrely fired reigning manager of the year Davy Johnson after a 98 win season.

 

Nice write up, I do enjoy these kind of unique articles.