Cal Ripken Jr.

Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr. (born August 24, 1960), nicknamed "the Iron Man", is an American former baseball shortstop and third baseman who played his entire 21-season career in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles (1981–2001). One of his position's most productive offensive players, Ripken compiled 3,184 hits, 431 home runs, and 1,695 runs batted in during his career, and he won two Gold Glove Awards for his defense. He was a 19-time All-Star and was twice named American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP), in 1983 and 1991.

Ripken holds the record for consecutive games played (2,632), having surpassed Lou Gehrig's streak of 2,130 which had stood for 56 years and which many deemed was unbreakable. In 2007, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility with 98.53% of votes, the sixth-highest election percentage ever to-date.

Born in Maryland, Ripken grew up traveling around the United States as his father, Cal Sr., was a player and coach in the Orioles' organization. After playing at Aberdeen High School, Ripken Jr. was drafted by the Orioles in the second round of the 1978 MLB draft. He reached the major leagues in 1981 as a shortstop but moved to third base in 1982, but the following year, he was shifted back to shortstop, his long-time position for Baltimore. That year, Ripken also won the AL Rookie of the Year Award and began his consecutive games played streak.

In 1983, he won a World Series championship over the Philadelphia Phillies and his first AL MVP Award. One of Ripken's best years came in 1991 when he was named an All-Star, won the Home Run Derby, and was the recipient of his first All-Star Game MVP Award, his second AL MVP Award, and first Gold Glove Award. He broke the consecutive games played record on September 6, 1995, in his 2,131st consecutive game, which fans voted as the league's "most memorable moment" in the history of the game in an MLB.com poll; Ripken voluntarily ended his 17-year streak at 2,632 games before the final home game of the 1998 season. He switched back to third base for the final five years of his career. In 2001, his final season, Ripken was named the All-Star Game MVP and was honored with the Commissioner's Historic Achievement Award.

Ripken is considered one of the best shortstops in baseball history. At , , he pioneered the way for the success of taller, larger shortstops. He holds the record for most home runs hit as a shortstop, at 345, breaking the record of 298 previously held by Ernie Banks, and was selected as the starting shortstop for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

Ripken is a best-selling author and the President and CEO of Ripken Baseball, Inc., whose goal is to expand the love of baseball from a grassroots level. Since his retirement, he has purchased three minor league baseball teams, and a minority stake with the Orioles. He has been active in charity work throughout his career and is still considered an ambassador of the game. He lives in Annapolis, Maryland, and is married to Laura Ripken, née Kiessling, a judge on the Appellate Court of Maryland.

Early life

Ripken was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland, the son of Violet Roberta "Vi" Ripken (née Gross) and Cal Ripken Sr. He has German, English, and Irish ancestry. Though the Ripkens called Aberdeen, Maryland, their home, they were often on the move because of Cal Sr.'s coaching duties with the Baltimore Orioles organization. Cal Sr., in fact, was in Topeka, Kansas, with one of his teams when his son was born.

Cal Jr. grew up around baseball and got started in it at a very young age.Rosenfeld, p.3 He was able to receive instruction from players on his father's teams, most notably from Doug DeCinces. He also got advice from his father, who once remarked to his mother that his questions were better than the ones reporters had.Joseph and Gronvall, p. 7 At the age of three, Ripken knew he wanted to be a ballplayer, and at the age of 10, Ripken "knew the game inside and out". Ripken and his brother Billy attended Aberdeen High School. They both played baseball there; Cal also played soccer.Rosenfeld, p. 12 He has two other siblings, Ellen and Fred.

Ripken began his high school career playing second base; his coach, Don Morrison, said, "I was considering moving him to short, but I was unsure if his arm was strong enough." Despite Morrison's concerns, Ripken did move to shortstop as a sophomore, combining strong fielding with a team-leading 10 runs batted in (RBI).

Needing pitching help, the Aberdeen Eagles began using Ripken as a pitcher as well in his junior year. He responded by striking out 55 batters in innings pitched with three shutouts while batting .339 with 21 hits and nine RBIs. He was named the Harford County Most Valuable Player (MVP) while helping Aberdeen become county champions for the first time since 1959. During his senior year, Ripken again had a strong season, lifting his batting average to .688 at one point and posting a 0.79 ERA with 45 strikeouts over his first 26 innings. In the playoffs, Ripken pitched the state championship game against Thomas Stone High School.Rosenfeld, pp. 19–20

The Eagles trailed 3–1 when Ripken, noting that rain was coming and that the game would be canceled and replayed because the Eagles had not yet played the fourth inning, made nine throws to first base to ensure the game would be replayed. When the game was played the next week, Ripken struck out 17, allowed two hits, and threw a complete game as Aberdeen won the state championship. He threw 102 pitches in the 7–1 victory.

Minor league career

The Baltimore Orioles drafted Ripken in the second round of the 1978 Major League Baseball draft 48th overall. Despite a story written by SABR, Ripken was selected with the Orioles' predetermined draft pick, not through a forfeited pick from the Boston Red Sox after the Sox selected Dick Drago in the 1977 re-entry draft. The Orioles would select catcher Cecil Whitehead with the pick they received from Boston two picks after Ripken.

On deciding to go straight from high school to the professional level, he said, "When the colleges started coming around, Dad and I talked about mostly whether I was going to pursue a career in baseball. If I had the ability, the feeling was to get on with it, and if it didn't work out, start over again in college at 25 or 26." Ripken played both pitcher and shortstop in high school; in fact, the Orioles were the only team not just interested in his pitching ability. The Orioles decided to start him playing shortstop in the minor leagues, deciding it would be easier for him to transition back to pitching if necessary than it would be for him to start hitting again.Rosenfeld, p. 26

In 1978, to begin Ripken's minor league career, the Orioles assigned him to the Bluefield Orioles of the rookie Appalachian League. He batted .264 with 63 hits, no home runs, and 24 RBIs, failing to make the league's all-rookie team.

In 1979, Ripken moved up to the Single-A Miami Orioles of the Florida State League. Shortly into the season, Miami manager Lance Nichols decided to move Ripken to third base, saying, "Cal was having some problems at short, so naturally I decided to shift him to third ... Third base was a perfect fit for Cal and our team." On July 2, Ripken hit his first professional home run, a game-winner in the 12th inning against Joseph Abone of the West Palm Beach Expos.Rosenfeld, p. 33

Ripken batted .303, hit five home runs, led the league with 28 doubles, and had 54 RBIs while playing in all 105 of Miami's games. He was named an All-Star after the season. His performance earned him a brief call-up to the Charlotte Orioles of the Double-A Southern League; Ripken batted .180 in a month with them, albeit with three home runs.

Ripken began 1980 with Charlotte. His manager at Charlotte, Jimmy Williams, predicted him to set the team home run record, and Ripken did not disappoint. At season's end, he had 25 home runs, besting the previous record by four. He also had 28 doubles, 78 RBIs, and a .492 slugging percentage.Rosenfeld, p. 36 Ripken was named an All-Star while helping Charlotte win the Southern League championship.

In 1981, Ripken was added to Baltimore's 40-man roster. He attended spring training with the Orioles, but was sent to the Rochester Red Wings of the Triple-A International League to start the season. At Rochester, Ripken played in the longest professional baseball game. Ripken started at third base and played all 33 innings against the Pawtucket Red Sox (which featured another future Hall of Famer, Wade Boggs) in a game that took parts of three days to complete. Ripken hit 23 home runs for Rochester while batting .288 with 75 RBIs in 114 games.Rosenfeld, p. 273 He was named the International League Rookie of the Year.Rosenfeld, p. 54

Major league career

1981–1986

The Orioles were planning to keep Ripken in Rochester through 1981, but searching for improvement in the second half of the 1981 season, they called him up on August 7. Manager Earl Weaver planned to have Ripken take over the role of utility infielder, in place of Wayne Krenchicki, who had been sent down to make room for Ripken on the roster. He made his debut on August 10 as a pinch runner for Ken Singleton in the 12th inning of a game against the Kansas City Royals. Ripken scored on a hit by John Lowenstein, giving the Orioles the win. His first major league hit came six days later against Dennis Lamp of the Chicago White Sox. Ripken finished the season batting .182 without an extra-base hit as the Orioles finished fourth in the second half of the season.

Ripken received the third base job for the Orioles in 1982 when the team traded DeCinces before the start of the season. He homered in his very first at-bat of the first game of the Orioles' 1982 season against Dennis Leonard of Kansas City as part of a three-hit outing. However, he slumped to begin the season; his batting average was .118 through May 1. Ripken looked for advice from several Orioles players and coaches but was most aided by advice from Reggie Jackson: "Just know what you know you can do, not what everybody else tells you to do."

After that, Ripken hit well for the rest of the season. On May 29, Ripken did not play the second game of a doubleheader, the last time he missed a game until 1998. On July 1, Weaver decided to permanently shift Ripken to shortstop, deciding that it was harder to find a shortstop who could hit than it was to find a third baseman who could hit.Rosenfeld, p. 69 Weaver said, "You never know. Rip might be a great shortstop." Ripken hit 28 home runs that year en route to winning the American League (AL) Rookie of the Year Award. Aided by Ripken, the Orioles contended for the playoffs until they lost to the Milwaukee Brewers on the final day of the season.

Ripken advanced even more in 1983, having what would be one of the best years of his career. He played well all season on the way to earning the first of 19 All-Star berths. Roommate Rick Dempsey

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