For 17 seasons spanning 1982 to 1998, Cal Ripken Jr. famously appeared in every Baltimore Orioles game, setting an enduring baseball record of 2,632 consecutive games. For the past 28 years, Rick Taylor, a 69-year-old retired food industry salesman from the Baltimore area, has dedicated himself to mirroring that historic achievement by collecting a physical ticket stub from every single game of the streak. It’s one of baseball’s most iconic records: For 2,632 straight games over 17 seasons, Cal Ripken Jr never missed a day in the Baltimore Orioles’ lineup.
Taylor is now within reach of completing this massive archive, needing only eight more tickets to finish the collection. Currently, his basement houses 16 boxes filled with the stubs, each individually protected in hard plastic holders and labeled by game number. Reflecting on the journey, Taylor remarked, “Did I ever really think I would get this far? No, not really. But I always said to myself that if I could ever get down to single digits, I think I could do it.”
The effort required for such a collection is immense. Mike Provenzale, a production manager at Heritage Auctions, described the project as an astonishing feat of perseverance. He noted that while fans universally marvel at Ripken’s physical record, Taylor’s dedication to capturing the history through ticket stubs is an accomplishment of similar magnitude. It’s almost an equal feat of perseverance to put together a collection of that many tickets.”. “To find somebody that held on to a ticket like that, it’s jaw-dropping,” Provenzale said.
Initially, Taylor’s goals were far more modest; he aimed only to collect tickets from games where Ripken hit home runs, of which there were 431. However, after a peer suggested expanding the scope to the entire “Iron Man” streak, the ambitious project was born. Taylor began his hunt by placing advertisements in “The Baltimore Sun,” which helped him acquire numerous stubs. He even secured the milestone first ticket of the streak from May 30, 1982, for $4,400 in a 1999 auction. But when a fellow collector asked him if he had thought about expanding the search to encompass the Iron Man streak, Taylor was intrigued: “I said, ‘That would be crazy, but you might have something there.’”. Tickets to sporting events have been largely distributed digitally or via printable PDFs, neither of which has the appeal or style of a ticket on cardstock, for years now.
The search has involved card shows, eBay, and networking through a specialized Facebook group called Booger’s Ticket Stubs. While progress slowed to just one ticket in 2023 and zero in 2024, the momentum picked back up with three in 2025 and five more so far this year, aided by social media outreach. Things had slowed to a trickle: 2023 yielded one ticket, a few years ago. But then he got three in 2025.
The final eight missing pieces are all road games from the 1980s: four against the Minnesota Twins, three against the Texas Rangers, and one against the Kansas City Royals. Taylor knows the specific dates by heart: June 4, 1982, in Minnesota; August 21, 1982, against the Rangers; and April 25, 1984, against the Royals. He attributes the scarcity to the low attendance those teams saw during that era and is currently offering $100 per ticket to incentivize holders to come forward. The road games have proven much tougher. Taylor can recite the dates by heart: 6-4-82 in Minnesota. Taylor partially attributes the difficulty in finding the Twins and Rangers tickets to the fact that both teams were mediocre in the mid-80s and did not command large crowds, further increasing their scarcity. 8-21-82 against the Rangers. 4-25-84 vs. the Royals.
Experts believe the tickets are likely still in existence, perhaps tucked away in old scrapbooks or desk drawers. However, the broader trend toward paperless ticketing makes replicating such a collection impossible for future generations. Matt Fuller, head of ticket authentication at PSA, noted that building a similar run today for modern stars like Shohei Ohtani or Aaron Judge simply cannot be done. Fuller, from PSA, agreed: “I have no doubt they’re out there, collecting dust in a desk drawer, a scrapbook or a shoebox.”.
The transition to digital passes and QR codes has sparked significant frustration for collectors. Taylor recently attempted to purchase 10 physical bleacher tickets for $350 at an Orioles game to help friends who collect, but the team office refused, offering only digital versions. “They turned down $350,” Taylor said. “They can print the tickets; they just don’t want to.” Others have ceased the practice entirely. Knowing some of his friends collect Ohtani tickets, Taylor went to the Orioles’ box office to buy 10 bleacher tickets for $35 each.
In response, the Orioles stated they favor digital ticketing for the improved entry process, fraud reduction, and fan communication, though they still provide physical stubs in specific cases, such as for minors without mobile devices. Despite these challenges, Provenzale observed that the shift away from physical tickets has ironically caused the hobby to explode in popularity over the last eight years, as condition-focused card collectors join the memorabilia market.
