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Buy Now: The Grittiest Autographed Ball Of All

In case you haven’t heard, we’ve opened a store, and we’ll be highlighting some of our products from time to time in a running feature called “Buy Now.” Today: a signed baseball that commemorates one of the national pastime’s most untouchable records.

30 years ago this week, Cal Ripken, Jr. took the field for the first of what would be 2,632 consecutive games. In that time, the indestructible infielder put in the kind of work that would get anybody into Cooperstown. He won two AL MVPs, two Gold Gloves, made the All-Star Team 18 times, and generally made it pretty pointless to argue about who the best shortstop in baseball was.

These days, Cal spends his time working with Habitat for Humanity and Energizer, and he generally eschews the convention and signing circuit. But after he retired, he did sign a handful of these puppies, which he also inscribed with the phrase “2632 CG,” or consecutive games, a reminder of a record that, along with Joe DiMaggio’s hit streak, is pretty much guaranteed never to be broken.

The O’s aren’t what they once were, but for the folks who got to watch Cal spring after spring, and summer and summer, they will always be a special team.

Buy one of these signed balls today.

And be sure to check out more items in our SportsGrid store.