ATLANTA (AP) — On Lou Gehrig Day, baseball’s reigning iron man came through with the biggest blow for the Atlanta Braves.
Matt Olson marked his 844th consecutive game with a tiebreaking homer in the sixth inning, giving the Braves a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Olson’s towering shot — his 17th homer of the season — got a big assist from a strong breeze blowing toward the right-field corner. The slugging first baseman thought he got under the ball, but it kept drifting and drifting — until it barely cleared the tall brick wall.
“I did not” think it was a homer, Olson said. “Luckily, we had some wind blowing out that way.”
Appropriately, Olson took a starring role on a day that Major League Baseball marked the 85th anniversary of Gehrig’s untimely death from ALS at age 37 — a disease that is forever linked to the Iron Horse and cut short his then-record streak of 2,130 consecutive games.
Olson, who also doubled and came around to score a run that gave Atlanta a 3-2 lead in the third, has played in every game going back to May 2, 2021 — the longest active run in the big leagues.
“We’ve talked about the streak,” he said. “It’s not something I’m hanging up on a pedestal. But to be able to show up and play while I’m able to, I want to.”
Braves manager Walt Weiss praised Olson’s durability and couldn’t think of higher praise than being compared to Gehrig.
“Lou Gehrig was one of my all-time heroes,” Weiss said. “I made all four of my sons do their fifth-grade book report on Lou Gehrig. That was mandatory in our house. What a legacy he left behind. And you’ve got our iron man hitting the game-winning homer on Lou Gehrig Day, so very appropriate.”
Olson was acquired in a blockbuster deal with the Athletics ahead of the 2022 season after the Braves couldn’t agree on a new contract with longtime first baseman Freddie Freeman.
It was huge shoes to fill, but Olson has been highly productive since joining the Braves. He hit a franchise-record 54 homers in 2023, and is on pace for another big season for the team with baseball’s best record at 41-20.
“He’s rock-solid in every way,” Weiss said. “He’s so reliable.”
Olson said there’s a simple reason that he prefers playing every day, eschewing even the occasional day off.
“I just don’t like sitting,” the 32-year-old said with a smile. “I’ve had days off in the past and, man, it sucks sitting there and watching everybody else play. Sure, you’re tired sometimes. But I just think you have a commitment to your teammates and the fans and yourself and the organization. If you can go, you should go.”
His playing streak is the longest in the big leagues since Miguel Tejada had 1,152 consecutive games from 2000-07. Of course, Gehrig’s record was broken by Cal Ripken Jr., who played in 2,632 consecutive games during his Hall of Fame career with the Baltimore Orioles.
Like Weiss, Olson appreciates what Gehrig meant to the national pastime and especially how he brought more attention to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neurological disease that has no known cure.
“I know people from my area who’ve been affected by it,” Olson said. “A brutal disease. Every time we get a chance to bring some awareness to it and do something to help people who are really affected by it, we’re all for it.”
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