Ripken, Calvin E. Jr.
Baseball
b. Aug. 24, 1960, Havre de Grace, MD
On May 30, 1982, Cal Ripken Jr. started his first game with the Baltimore Orioles, playing third base and batting eighth. On Sept. 6, 1995, Ripken started at shortstop for the Orioles and hit a home run in a 4-2 win over the California Angels. It was his 2,131st consecutive game, breaking the long-time major league record set by Lou Gehrig. The streak continued until Sept. 20, 1998, when Ripken voluntarily took himself out of the lineup after 2,632 games.
Within that streak, there was a smaller, less-noted streak: From June 5, 1982, to Sept. 14, 1987, Ripken played 8,243 consecutive innings, also a major-league record.
The consecutive game streak tends to obscure Ripken's genuine skills. Obviously, a player has to be pretty good for managers to put his name on the lineup card game after game for more than 16 seasons.
Ripken was virtually born to play for the Orioles. His father, Cal Sr., was a former player who had worked in the team's organization since retiring. He was Baltimore's third-base coach when Cal Jr. joined the team. In 1987, Cal Sr. took over as Baltimore's manager and Cal's younger brother, Billy Ripken, became the team's starting second baseman midway through the seson. That family arrangement didn't last long, though; Cal Sr. was fired after the Orioles lost their first six games in 1988.
In June of his rookie year, Ripken was moved from third base to shortstop, where he spent most of his career. He hit .264 with 28 home runs and 93 RBI to win the American League rookie of the year award. The following season, Ripken was named the league's MVP, as he batted .318, with 211 hits, 47 doubles, 27 home runs, 121 runs scored, and 102 RBI, to lead the Orioles to the pennant. They went on to beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.
He won a second in MVP award in 1991, when he had a .323 average with 34 home runs and 114 RBI. Ripken went on to set a record for most home runs for a shortstop.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pounder was not a flashy fielder, but his strong arm and enabled him to play deep, increasing his range, as did his knowledge of where to play hitters. Ripken rarely made spectacular plays, but he made relatively easy plays on grounders that might have eluded faster shortstops who weren't properly positioned. He led American League shortstops in assists four times and set a league record with 583 in 1984. In 1990, he committed only 3 errors, the fewest ever by a major league shortstop playing a full season. He also set records that season for fielding percentage, .996; most consecutive errorless games, 95; and most consecutive chances accepted without an error, 431.
Ripken played in 17 consecutive All-Star games, including 12 straight starts, and he won Gold Glove awards in 1991 and 1992.
On June 19, 2001, the 98th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's birth, Ripken announced that he would retire at the end of the season.
Since his retirement, he and his brother Billy have operated Ripken Baseball, which owns the Aberdeen (Maryland) IronBirds, a Baltimore farm team, and the Ripken Youth Academy, which includes four youth baseball fields and instructional facilities.