Cal Ripken Jr. Placed On DL

April 19, 1999 / 9:38 PM EDT / AP

Cal Ripken, baseball's Iron Man, was placed on the disabled list Monday for the first time in his 19-year career because of a bad back.

The Baltimore Orioles third baseman missed his fourth game this season Sunday because of nerve irritation in his lower back. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to Sunday.

Ripken, 38, woke up in agony Sunday morning and was treated Monday in Cleveland by Dr. Henry Bohlman, professor of orthopedics at Case Western University. Ripken received a cortisone shot and was advised to stay off the field for the next couple of weeks.

Ripken is batting only .178 and has five errors in eight games.

"Right now we're going with rehabilitation and therapy. He will get a few more cortisone shots, relax a little bit and take the full two weeks to work his way back," Orioles general manager Frank Wren said.

Wren said that surgery is not an option at this time.

"He got a cortisone shot the last time he had trouble with his back during the first week of the season," he said. "He wanted to get back quickly, as one would expect. But this time he needs to go slower."

Last Sept. 20, Ripken voluntarily ended his record consecutive games streak by sitting out the Orioles' final home game against the New York Yankees. It was the first game he missed since beginning his record streak of 2,632 games on May 30, 1982.

Ripken, whose father, Cal Sr., died shortly before the season started, was removed in the third inning of the Orioles' opener on April 5 because of back pain. He sat out Baltimore's next game the first game he missed because of injury since his rookie season in 1982.

Ripken also missed the Orioles' next game and was benched in New York last week after committing two errors on one play the night before.

"There's no question his back has affected his play," Wren said.

During the streak Ripken survived two ankle injuries, a twisted knee and a herniated disk in his back in 1997.

None of those injuries affected him the way his back injury has.

"It's remarkable he's gone this long without being put on the disabled list," Wren said. "The pounding he takes, the work ethic he has, it's just amazing this had not happened before."

Ripken will be replaced at third base by rookie Willis Otanez.