ripken is perhaps best known for breaking new york yankees first baseman lou gehrig's record for consecutive games played. the record had been called too hard to break. he beat the 56-year-old record when he played in his 2,131st straight game on september 6, 1995 between the orioles and the california angels in front of a sold-out crowd at oriole park at camden yards. ripken hit a home run in the game the night before that tied gehrig's record and another home run in his 2,131st game. fans later voted this game as major league baseball's "most memorable moment" in mlb history. ripken played in an 501 more straight games over the next three years. his streak ended at 2,632 games when he removed his name from the lineup for the final orioles home game of the 1998 season. his record 2,632 straight games lasted over seventeen seasons, from may 30, 1982 to september 20, 1998.