Matt Olson plays in 741st straight game with Braves to become the franchise's Iron Man

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson made franchise history on Friday night against the St. Louis Cardinals when he played in his 741st consecutive game for the team to break Dale Murphy’s record of 740 set from 1981 to 1986.

Olson signed with Atlanta as a free agent ahead of the 2022 season after playing parts of six seasons with the Oakland Athletics.

He has started 740 of his 741 games as a member of the Braves with the lone exception coming on Sept. 24, 2022 at Philadelphia when he entered the game in the bottom of the eighth inning as a defensive replacement.

“It’s quite an accomplishment,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “This is a tough league. We play virtually every day, so to do something like that is mind boggling, really. The Ripken thing is another universe, but what Matt Olson is doing is really, really impressive.”

Olson has played in 875 consecutive games overall which is the ninth-longest streak in major league history, 20 games shy of Stan Musial’s 895 game streak with the Cardinals from 1952-57.

Cal Ripken played in 2,632 consecutive games for Baltimore from May 1982 until September 1998.

Olson last sat out a game on May 1, 2021, when he missed three games with the Athletics after suffering a left eye contusion during batting practice on April 29.

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