It was August 14, 1997. Baltimore was sticky, the kind of mid-August heat that makes your shirt go translucent the second you step out of the car. At Camden Yards, the Orioles were supposed to face the Seattle Mariners. Randy Johnson—The Big Unit—was on the mound for Seattle, probably looking like a terrifying seven-foot-tall skyscraper of limbs ready to hurl 100 mph heat at anyone brave enough to stand in the box.
Then, the lights went out.
Well, not all of them. Just a bank or two. But enough that the umpires called the game.
Normally, a power outage is just a boring maintenance story. But this is the night that birthed the most persistent, salacious, and frankly bizarre urban legend in the history of Major League Baseball. It involves an Oscar-winning movie star, a legendary shortstop, and his then-wife. We are talking about the Kelly Ripken and Kevin Costner rumor. Honestly, if you grew up anywhere near the Mid-Atlantic in the late 90s, you’ve heard some version of it.
Why the Kevin Costner rumor started
To understand why people even believed this, you have to remember who Cal Ripken Jr. was in 1997. He was the "Iron Man." He had already broken Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive games played. The streak was sacred. It was basically the only thing sports fans in Baltimore cared about.
The story, as it’s been whispered in bars and on message boards for decades, goes like this: Cal supposedly came home early and found Kevin Costner (who was friends with the Ripkens) in a "compromising position" with Kelly Ripken.
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The legend says Cal was so distraught—or possibly so injured from a fistfight with the Dances with Wolves star—that he couldn't play. If he didn't play, the streak died. So, according to the conspiracy theorists, the Orioles faked a power outage to postpone the game and save the streak.
It sounds like a movie script. Probably because it is completely made up.
Debunking the Kelly Ripken and Kevin Costner Affair
Let's get into the weeds of why this doesn't hold up. First off, Cal Ripken Jr. was actually at the stadium that night.
I know, conspiracy theorists love to say he was missing. But multiple witnesses, including then-Orioles spokesperson John Maroon and teammate Brady Anderson, have gone on record saying Cal was right there in the dugout. There’s even photographic evidence of him in uniform, waiting out the delay.
- The Randy Johnson Factor: Cal himself told NPR in 2008 that he was definitely at the park. He joked that the real reason the game was postponed was that they didn't want to face Randy Johnson in bad lighting. Can you blame them?
- Costner’s Reaction: Kevin Costner didn't just ignore this. He eventually called into a Fox Sports Radio show in 2001 to address the "Internet garbage." He was furious. He pointed out he’d only met Kelly Ripken a handful of times and had never even been to their house.
- The Electrical Reality: The "mysterious" power outage was actually traced back to a specific transformer issue. It’s hard to imagine a groundskeeper risking his career to fake a blackout just because a player was having a bad day at home.
The rumor has "legs" because it’s a perfect storm. You have a massive celebrity (Costner), a local hero (Ripken), and a literal "lights out" moment. Humans love patterns, even when they aren't there.
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The Fallout and the Divorce
People often point to the fact that Cal and Kelly Ripken eventually divorced as "proof" the rumor was true. But look at the timeline. The "blackout game" happened in 1997. The Ripkens didn't finalize their divorce until 2016.
That is a nineteen-year gap.
Nineteen years is a very long time to wait to get divorced over a 1997 incident. Relationships end for all sorts of reasons—growing apart, changing priorities, the general wear and tear of life. Pinning a 2016 split on a 1997 urban legend is a reach, even for the most dedicated Reddit sleuths.
Why we still talk about it
Basically, we love to see our heroes as human. Cal Ripken Jr. was so perfect, so disciplined, and so consistent that he almost didn't feel real. The idea that he had a "human" moment of rage or heartbreak makes him more relatable to some people.
But it’s also a lesson in how misinformation spreads. This story started before Twitter, before TikTok, before the 24-hour news cycle was truly a monster. It was purely word-of-mouth. Someone "knew a guy who knew a cop" or "knew a guy who worked at the stadium."
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Actually, a podcast called The Rumor spent six episodes trying to track down the source of the story. They talked to electricians, umpires, and former players. What did they find? A lot of "I heard it from someone else" and zero "I saw it myself."
Actionable Insights for the Curious
If you're still fascinated by the intersection of Kelly Ripken and Kevin Costner, here is how to look at the facts without the "conspiracy" goggles:
- Check the Box Scores: If you look at the 1997 Orioles season, the game was indeed made up as part of a doubleheader. Ripken played both games. He didn't look like a man with a broken hand or a broken spirit.
- Understand the Friendship: Costner was a huge baseball fan (obviously, look at his filmography). He did hang out with the Ripkens at premieres. It was a public friendship, which is exactly why it was so easy for someone to insert his name into a scandal.
- Respect the Privacy: Both Cal and Kelly have moved on. Cal remarried in 2018. Kelly has kept a relatively low profile.
It’s fun to talk about sports myths. It’s part of the culture. But when a story has been debunked by the "victim," the "villain," and the "witnesses," it’s time to let the lights stay on. The "Iron Man" streak stayed alive because Cal Ripken Jr. showed up every single day, not because of a Hollywood-style cover-up.
For those interested in the logistical side of the "blackout," you can actually find technical reports from the era about the Baltimore power grid. It turns out, sometimes a lightbulb just burns out. Sometimes a circuit breaks. And sometimes, a movie star is just a guy who likes baseball and happens to be in the wrong rumor at the right time.
Verify the timeline of the 1997 season against the official MLB archives. You will see that Cal was in the lineup for the games immediately following the outage, performing at his usual professional level.