Cal Ripken Jr.

For other meanings, see also the disambiguation page Cal Ripken

File:Cal ripken jr 1993.jpg

Cal Ripken, Jr. in 1993

Calvin Edwin Ripken, Jr. (born August 24, 1960 in Havre de Grace, Maryland) is a former shortstop and third baseman in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Baltimore Orioles from 1981 to 2001. He was raised in Aberdeen, Maryland, a town near his birthplace, in a home steeped in baseball. His father, Cal Sr., was a long-time coach in baseball who managed the Orioles in the late 1980s. His brother, Billy Ripken, played second base for various teams, including the Orioles. He has two other siblings, Ellie and Fred. He is married to Kelly Geer and has a daughter, Rachel, born in 1989 and a son, Ryan, born in 1993.

Ripken was known as the Iron Man of baseball, playing 2,632 straight games, spanning sixteen seasons, without missing a single game (May 30, 1982 - September 20, 1998). He played his 2131st consecutive game on September 6, 1995, breaking the 56-year-old record set by the Iron Horse New York Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig.

The Streak

When the name Ripken is mentioned, one thing comes to mind: The Streak. Along the lines of Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak, "The Streak" is regarded as one of baseball's 'Unbreakable' records. 16 years in the making, Ripken's demonstration of mental and physical toughness had allowed him to become one of baseball's greatest and most popular players.

But it was never easy for Cal. The Baltimore Orioles only made the playoffs 3 times in his 20 year career. When Ripken wasn't performing in the late 80's, fans booed and critics criticized his passion for the game often calling him "selfish". But Cal believed otherwise. He believed he was a player that could help the Orioles win with his stellar, yet overlooked, defense and his potent offense. And so too did 9 of his managers who wrote him in the lineup until Cal took himself out on September 20, 1998.

During "The Streak", Cal played in 99.8% of the time. But Ripken had several close calls that almost ended the streak. In a 1985 game(#444 of the Streak), Ripken sprained his ankle while running out a double. The very next day, Ripken's ankle swelled so bad that he couldn't play. Luckily, the Orioles had an exhibition game and Ripken sat out. In a game vs. the Mariners in June of 1993, there was a brawl that occurred on the mound at Oriole Park. Ripken was in the middle trying to break up the melee, but twisted his right knee in the process. "It was the closest I have ever come to not playing," Ripken later told the press. He woke up the next day and could not even get out of bed. Cal told his wife Kelly about not being able to play.and Kelly asked, "Can't you just play 1 inning?" Cal immediately responded, "YOU TOO?" The Orioles had a game that night and Ripken played. He taped up his knee and took infield practice before the game. It felt fine and Cal then played every inning for the next two weeks. During that same year, Ripken's second child was about to be born sometime during the season. The media asked if Ripken would sit out if his child would be born on a game day. He said he would have. Luckily, Ripken's second child, Ryan, was born on an Orioles off day.

Another streak that is often mentioned is the consecutive innings streak. Ripken played in 8,243 straight innings from June 5, 1982, to September 14, 1987, also considered to be a record, although not an "official" one as the major leagues have not traditionally kept statistics on innings played by non-pitchers.

Cal Ripken is also notable for having played third base for the Rochester Red Wings in the longest game in professional baseball history. A 33 inning, 8 hour, 25 minute, 3-2 loss to the Pawtucket Red Sox that began on April 18th, 1981, and didn't end until June 23rd when play resumed.

Baltimore Orioles

1982: AL Rookie of the Year

Cal Ripken, Jr. came up as a promising 3rd baseman. He wanted to prove to everyone that he came up to the Majors on talent and skill and not just by being the coach's son. He homered in his first at-bat on Opening Day and then fell into a deep slump going 4 for 55. Worried that he may be sent down, a May 1st talk with Reggie Jackson at third base during a game made Ripken relax the rest of the season. Reggie said, "Look, don't let everyone else tell you how to hit. You could hit before you got here. Just be yourself and hit the way you want to hit. They traded Doug DeCinces to make room for you, didn't they? They think you can play. They know you can." After the talk, Cal raised his average from .141 to as high as .284 before settling with a .264 average. Cal ended up leading all AL rookies in every offensive category including home runs (23) and RBI's (93). The end result was Ripken edging out Wade Boggs of the Boston Red Sox and Kent Hrbek of the Minnesota Twins for the American League Rookie of the Year.

1983: AL MVP

Coming into the 1983 season, Cal had a lot to prove. He wanted to show everyone, including himself, that the 1982 campaign was no fluke. He responded by hitting .318 and leading the AL with 211 hits, 47 doubles, 76 extra-base hits, 121 runs, games played at 162 and AB's with 663. He was now the most feared hitter in the league. Most importantly, he lead the Baltimore Orioles, with a 98-64 record, to a World Series Title. At the end of the season, Cal beat out teammate Eddie Murray in the AL MVP voting with the final tally being 322-290.

Cal became the first player in MLB history to win Rookie of the Year honors and be named the MVP the next year.

1989: 'Why Not' Birds

In 1988, the Orioles started the season by losing a ML record 21 straight games. But 1989 would be a different story. Starting off, the Birds changed their look by removing the cartoon Oriole logo on their hat to a more realistic looking bird. Fans were eager to see how the 1989 season would turn out. The Orioles started the season by beating Roger Clemens and the Boston Red Sox on Opening Day. Cal hit a 3 run HR off of Clemens to seal the deal and the Orioles never looked back. The Orioles were the surprise team all season and fans came up with the tagline: The "Why Not" Orioles. The team stayed in first place all year long, only to lose to the Toronto Blue Jays the last weekend of the season. But what a difference a year makes. In 1988, the Orioles won 54 games and finished 34 1/2 games out of first place. In 1989 the Orioles won 87 games and finished 2 games out of first place.

Baseball writers blamed Cal for the Orioles late season collapse. In September, Cal hit under .250 and many were blaming the consecutive game streak as the reason.

1990

In 1990, Ripken had his worst season of his career up to that point. He was often booed loudly at home and his power numbers and batting average were down. He was hitting .209 in June. He often took extra batting practice before the game to get out of his slump. But it was a talk with Frank Robinson that helped him out. Robinson suggested that he adjust his stance by widening and bending a little at the knees. The result was Ripken hitting .278 the rest of the 1990 season to raise his final season average to .250.

The only bright side to 1990 was with his glove (Rawlings Pro-6HF). Cal compiled a then-record 95 straight games without an error. He committed just 3 errors all season finishing with a MLB record .996 fielding percentage. Surprisingly, he did not win the Gold Glove. The Gold Glove that season went to a flashier SS by the name of Ozzie Guillen who had committed 17 errors.

1991: MVP Season

Cal applied the crouched stance all season and the results were staggering. 1991 was a magical year for Cal. Cal never went through a slump and went into the All Star break leading the senior circuit with 111 hits and a .348 batting average. Cal finished the season by hitting .323 with 34 HR's and 114 RBI's. He also led the league with 85 extra-base hits and 368 total bases.

After the season, the awards piled up for Cal. He won his second AL MVP award, the Gold Glove Award, 1991 All Star game MVP award (going 2 for 3 which included hitting a 3-run home run off of Dennis Martinez), Gatorade Home Run Derby contest (hitting a then record 12 home runs in 22 swings, including hitting 7 consecutive to start the contest), Louisville Slugger "Silver Slugger Award", AP Player of the Year Award, and The Sporting News Player of the Year Award. The only other player in MLB history to win all those awards in the same season, besides the Home Run derby, was Maury Wills in 1962.

Cal also became the first player ever to win the Home Run Derby and be named All Star Game MVP honors the same year. The only other player that has accomplished this feat is Garret Anderson of the Anaheim Angels in 2003.

Most notably, Ripken was the first AL MVP in MLB history to win the award from a sub .500 club. The Orioles finished in 6th place with 67-95 record.

1995:Saving Baseball

After the 1994 strike, baseball needed a hero. Ripken would fit that description. Cal would oblige and sign hundreds and hundreds of autographs before and after games to bring back fans. It is known that Ripken would sometimes sign autographs for 2-3 hours before and after a game had ended.

On September 6, 1995 all of America had their eyes on Ripken. ESPN nationally televised the game and it still ranks as the network's highest watched non-football game ever. Many consider that game as the game where Cal Ripken, Jr. solidified his Hall of Fame credentials and cemented his status as a baseball legend. He homered in games 2129 and 2130. But in the fourth inning of game #2131, he homered on a 3-0 pitch offering from Angels' Shawn Boskie.

When the game became official in the bottom of the fifth inning, the numbers on the B&O Wearhouse turned from 2130 to 2131. The standing ovation Cal received went an unprecedented 22 minutes and 16 seconds. Ballparks across the nation watched the game on the jumbotron. Fans stood and cheered for several minutes as they watched Ripken do a lap around Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Not only had he finally accomplished what many thought was once unbreakable, but more importantly he brought America's pastime back to fans of all ages.

1999

In 1999, Cal had his finest season since 1991. Although he was injured at the beginning and the end of the 1999 season, he still managed to hit 18 HR's in only 332 AB's (one HR every 18.4 AB's) while hitting a career high .340. He also had his best individual game of his career by going 6 for 6 with 2 HR's and tying a club record with 13 total bases vs. the Atlanta Braves on 6/13/1999. During the nationally televised game, Ripken's bat speed, which was the fastest among all the players that game, was clocked at an impressive 95 mph.

2001:Retirement

In June 2001, Ripken announced his retirement. This led to a "Ripken Farewell Tour" where it seemed like he homered at every stop. He received standing ovations for every at-bat on the road from fans, opposing players and even the umpires, which is unheard of. At every stop on the "Farewell Tour", the opposing teams would honor Cal with a pre-game ceremony.

He was voted the starting third baseman in the All Star game at Safeco Field on 7/10/2001 in Seattle. With Ripken hitting eighth, he homered off the first pitch he saw from Chan Ho Park. He ended up with All Star MVP honors. He is the only AL player in MLB history with multi-All Star Game MVP Awards (1991+2001).

By the time of his retirement, Ripken had established himself as one of the greatest players ever to don a uniform. He is only one of seven players in the history of the game to collect 3,000 hits and over 400 home runs.

Legacy

In addition to Ripken's legendary durability, he, along with gamers such as Robin Yount and Alan Trammell, is credited with redefining the shortstop position. Many of the game's current top shortstops, including Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, name Ripken as their inspiration while growing up. Though he was brought up through the minor leagues as a third baseman, then-manager Earl Weaver gave him an audition at shortstop when he was first brought up to the Major League ballclub. Weaver's actions raised quite a few eyebrows; at 6 ft 4 in, 225 lb (1.93 m, 102 kg), Ripken was an enormous departure from the protypical shortstop of the time - small, fleet-of-foot players who play great defense, but are offensive liabilities.

Nonetheless, Ripken demonstrated the ability to play more than adequate defense at shortstop, and as a result remained a fixture there for well over a decade, leading the league in assists several times. Ripken studied batters and even his own pitching staff so he could position himself to compensate for the lack of range that he had. Cal was known to even call pitches from the SS position during games!

Post-Playing Life

Cal Ripken retired on October 6, 2001 and built a new stadium in Aberdeen, where he had played baseball as a boy. He is a part owner of the Aberdeen IronBirds, the Single A- Rookie affiliate minor league baseball team associated with the Orioles. On June 28, 2005, he announced that he was also purchasing the Augusta GreenJackets of the South Atlantic League, an A-level affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Ripken has also made generous donations to charity causes, including many donations supporting research on Lou Gehrig's disease. He also gives speeches about his time in baseball and some of the lessons he has learned. Ripken publishes a weekly advice column in the Baltimore Sun.

Ripken unexpectedly made news in November of 2003 when he reported a naked man at his door. The visitor was a bleeding kidnapping victim dropped off near his home.

In 2005, the Orioles honored Ripken on the 10th anniversary of his 2,131st consecutive game. After the top of the 5th inning, the numbers 2130 on the warehouse behind the stadium changed to 2131, just as they did on September 6, 1995.

Recently Cal has become one of the main reacurring people in Comcast advertisments.

Cal is still one of the today's most popular and celebrated ballplayers. His popularity in the mid to late 90's forever changed the baseball card hobby. "Cal"lectors, as they are known, will purchase anything with Cal's pic on it. Ripken memorabilia are still highly sought after even 5 years after his retirement. From rookie cards to Starting Lineups to autographed items, the name Ripken demands top dollar. Always a private person, Cal will do at least 1-3 private signings a year.

Ripken's first appearance on the ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame will be in January 2007. Most writers and fans believe he will get all 100% of the votes. If Cal does get 100% of the votes, he will become the first player ever to receive a perfect 100%.

Awards and records

Baseball

• 1982: American League Rookie of the Year
• 1983: American League MVP
• 1991: American League MVP
• 1991: All-Star Game MVP
• 1991: Gold Glove Award for shortstop
• 1992: Gold Glove award for shortstop
• 1995: Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year"
• 1999: Ranked Number 78 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players
• 1999: Elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
• 2001: All-Star Game MVP
• Most consecutive games played at 2,632
• Most grounded into double plays at 350
• Most double plays by a shortstop, American League, at 1682

Baltimore Orioles

• Games Played, 3,001
• Consecutive games, 2,632
• At bats, 11,551
• Hits, 3,184
• Runs, 1,647
• RBI, 1,695
• Extra Base Hits, 1078
• Doubles, 603
• Homeruns, 431 (Baltimore has had 5 members of the 500 home run club on its roster, but none have hit more with the Orioles than Ripken)
• Total Bases, 5168
• Walks, 1,129
• Strikeouts, 1,305
• Assists, 8,212
• Double Plays, 1,682

Career statistics

 Year Ag Tm  Lg  G    AB     R   H   2B 3B  HR  RBI  TB   BB  SO  SB CS  OPB   SLG   AVG  
+--------------+---+-----+----+----+---+--+---+----+----+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+
 1981 20 BAL AL  23   39     1   5    0	 0   0   0     5   1   8   0  0  .150  .128  .128
 1982 21 BAL AL 160  598    90  158  32	 5  28  93   284  46  95   3  3  .317  .475  .264
 1983 22 BAL AL 162  663   121  211  47  2  27 102   343  58  97   0  4  .371  .517  .318
 1984 23 BAL AL 162  641   103  195  37  7  27  86   327  71  89   2  1  .374  .510  .304
 1985 24 BAL AL 161  642   116  181  32	 5  26 110   301  67  68   2  3  .347  .469  .282
 1986 25 BAL AL 162  627    98  177  35  1  25  81   289  70  60   4  2  .355  .461  .282
 1987 26 BAL AL 162  624    97  157  28  3  27  98   272  81  77   3  5  .333  .436  .252
 1988 27 BAL AL 161  575    87  152  25	 1  23  81   248 102  69   2  2  .372  .431  .264
 1989 28 BAL AL 162  646    80  166  30  0  21  93   259  57  72   3  2  .317  .401  .257
 1990 29 BAL AL 161  600    78  150  28  4  21  84   249  82  66   3  1  .341  .415  .250
 1991 30 BAL AL 162  650    99  210  46  5  34 114   368  53  46   6  1  .374  .566  .323
 1992 31 BAL AL 162  637    73  160  29  1  14  72   233  64  50   4  3  .323  .366  .251
 1993 32 BAL AL 162  641    87  165  26  3  24  90   269  65  58   1  4  .329  .420  .257
 1994 33 BAL AL 112  444    71  140  19	 3  13  75   204  32  41   1  0  .364  .459  .315
 1995 34 BAL AL 144  550    71  144  33  2  17  88   232  52  59   0  1  .324  .422  .262
 1996 35 BAL AL 163  640    94  178  40  1  26 102   298  59  78   1  2  .341  .466  .278
 1997 36 BAL AL 162  615    79  166  30  0  17  84   247  56  73   1  0  .331  .402  .270
 1998 37 BAL AL 161  601    65  163  27  1  14  61   234  51  68   0  2  .331  .389  .271
 1999 38 BAL AL 86   332    51  113  27  0  18  57   194  13  31   0  1  .368  .584  .340
 2000 39 BAL AL 83   309    43   79  16  0  15  56   140  23  37   0  0  .310  .453  .256
 2001 40 BAL AL 128  477    43  114  16  0  14  68   172  26  63   0  2  .276  .361  .239
+--------------+---+-----+----+----+---+--+---+----+----+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+
 21 Seasons    3001	  1647      603    431      5168     1305    39       .447  
                    11551      3184  	44     1695  	 1129     36     .340       .276
               

External links

• Career statistics from Baseball Reference