Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr.
He Was More Than Just a Great Consecutive Games Streak
Cal Ripken redefined the shortstop position, changing it from a spot for the little and the quick, to the big and the strong. He made way for the likes of A-Rod & Jeter.
Cal Ripken is a Hall of Famer. Well, not yet. Not officially. That won't happen until he is formally inducted ito the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on Saturday, July 28, and takes his place in baseball eternity next to other great Orioles such as Frank Robinson, Eddie Murray and Wee Willie Keeler. Ripken is, of course, best rememebered for his record of playing in 2,632 consecutive games. But he was much more than just a guy who played every day.
The Strike That Almost Killed Baseball
In 1994, Major Leage Baseball hit a new low. On August 12th, while in the midst of a potentially historic season, the players' union went out on strike. After months of negotiation, the owners and players could not come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement, so the payers walked out. And stayed out.
The season was cancelled a month later. The cancellation included the postseason. For the first time since 1904, America would not have a World Series. Many fans said that they had had enough. Polls from that off-season showed that even if baseball did return for spring training, more than half of its followers swore they were not going to show. They had lost the faith.
The strike eventually was settled the next spring, and baseball set off on a reduced 144-game season in late April of 2005. Nothing was the same. Gone were the crowds that had filled ballparks just a year earlier. Gone was the excitment of the home run races and chases that captured the imagination of fans in '94. Worst of all, whatever trust that had still existed between the fans and the game was also long gone.
The faithful had lost their faith in the game. It was baseball's Watergate.
The Nights That Saved The Game
That was until September 5, 1995. On that night, Cal Ripken, who hadn't missed a scheduled ballgame in more than thirteen years, entered consecutive game number 2,130 of his career. It was the same number as the legenday Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig, had achieved in his career. Gehrig's record had stood for almost 60 years and many believed it could never be broken.
But here was Ripken, jogging out to his familiar spot at shortstop in the top of the first inning. After the fifth inning ended, and the game became official, Ripken received a long standing ovation from the Baltimore crowd. When he came to bat in the bottom of the sixth, Cal put an exclamation point on the already exiciting evening when he homered to left field. It was sheer pandemonium as he circled the bases.
The next night was even more majestic. In the record-breaking game, a huge ceremony was held on the field after the fifth inning. Ripken was given accolades, awards and made a memorable speech paying homage to Gehrig. Then, when the game resumed, Ripken came to bat and hit another home run. It was a rocket; a laser that cleared the wall in left center field and sent Ripken forever into history.
The crowd erupted as Cal Ripken rounded the bases, tipped his cap and then waited in the dugout. The crowd continued cheering, chanting and screaming for their hero. But what could Cal do? After all, he had already taken two curtain calls. What more could he do?
But then two teammates literally pushed Cal out onto the field, and he slowly began to walk down the first base line, shaking hands with the fans. As the cheering and the chants continued, Ripken picked up the pace and made a victory lap around the perimeter of the field at Camden Yards, high-fiving, shakilng hands, and saluting the crowd as he circumnavigated the field. He touched almost as many hands as hearts at the Stadium that evening.
When it finally ended, some twenty minutes after the home run, Cal Ripken had become a legend; his trip around the park that night was a mythic journey that had once again brought together the player and the fan. Many believed that on that night, Cal Ripken saved baseball. Ressuscitated the game as it lay mortally wounded on the field of battle.
He would continue playing baseball every night until September 20, 1998, when he took himself out of the lineup. When all was said and done, he had played in 2,632 consecutive baseball games. Sixteen years without missing a day of work.
Ripken Was More Than the Streak
Of course, Cal Ripken, Jr. would be worthy of the Hall of Fame even without his streak. His playing accomplishments put him in some very rare company. What follows are a few highlights:
- He won the Rookie of the Year in 1982
- He won two MVP awards (1983, 1991)
- He won the World Series in 1983
- He was named to 19 straight All-Star teams (second most consecutive AS games ever)
- He won the All Star MVP in his final AS game in 2001
- He won two Gold Gloves and eight Silver Slugger awards
- He had 3,184 hits (14th all time)
- He had 1,695 RBI (20th all time)
- He hit 431 Home Runs
- He is one of just eight players to collect more than 3,000 hits and 400 home runs
Ripken was and is a baseball great. On Sunday, July 29, 2007, he will become a baseball immortal.
