One of baseball’s most infamous urban legends is getting new legs thanks to a Hollywood A-lister.
“Semi-Pro” star Will Ferrell told the “My Momma Told Me” podcast — a podcast from iHeartMedia and Will Ferrell’s Big Money Players Network — that the the infamous theory that the Orioles caused an electrical issue at Camden Yards in 1997 to preserve Cal Ripken Jr.’s consecutive game streak “kinda checks out:”
The theory revolves around Ripken catching actor Kevin Costner in bed with Ripken’s wife and the Orioles legend beating up the “Bull Durham” star and then injuring his hand in the fight, which would have kept him from playing in that night’s game.
Costner and Ripken have both repeatedly denied that any such incident had ever happened, but the conspiracy theory has continued to persist among Baltimore folklore and on the internet.
“There was a point in his streak where he was getting towards the end where the game was called due to the electricity going out in the Baltimore baseball stadium,” Ferrell said. “And they had to call the game. There was a power outage.”
It’s alleged that the team somehow created a power issue at the ballpark, which delayed the game slated to take place on the night of Aug. 14, 1997, and eventually led to the cancellation of the contest.
“And the story is that Cal Ripken came home to find his wife cheating with Kevin Costner,” Ferrell said. “They had a fight, he hurt his hand, he’s like ‘I can’t play tonight.’ They’re like, ‘OK, what about the streak? I know, the power’s out. Cut the lights.’ And then they had a couple off days and it allowed the hand to heal up and the streak continued.”
A bank of lights out in the outfield never was able to come on and the power issue only impacted Camden Yards and not any other part of the city.
Ripken’s streak stayed intact and one of baseball’s oddest urban legends was born.
Costner and Ripken did become close in 1990 after meeting at the premier of “Dances with Wolves,” which starred Costner.
There has never been any evidence to support the claims that Ripken and Costner had ever gotten into a brawl or that the actor had engaged in any inappropriate behavior with the baseball legend’s wife.
Costner even denied the rumor when he called into a sports radio show in Los Angeles in 2001, according to the LA Times.
“If there is something alleged, I’d love to see someone come forward,” Costner said. “No one will, because they don’t have the story to do it. There would be big money for a story like this, but it simply is not true.
“If there is something alleged, I’d love to see someone come forward. Look, I’m Crash Davis. If you want a rainout, I can get you a rainout. If you saw [“Bull Durham”] I just go break the sprinklers. . . . I don’t know if Kelly or Cal — the night in question — had to go to the emergency hospital for something. I don’t know — but what has been strung together is some kind of story.”
Ripken also addressed the rumor during a 2008 interview with NPR in which he said “I definitely was there.”
“I’m sure I was on camera a number of times being out on the field,” he added.
