85 Facts About Cal Ripken

One of his position's most offensively productive 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.

Cal Ripken was a 19-time All-Star and was twice named American League Most Valuable Player.

Cal Ripken holds the record for consecutive games played, 2,632, surpassing Lou Gehrig's streak of 2,130 that had stood for 56 years and that many deemed unbreakable.

Cal Ripken reached the major leagues in 1981 as a shortstop but moved to third base in 1982, but the following year, he was shifted to shortstop, his long-time position for Baltimore.

That year, Cal Ripken won the AL Rookie of the Year Award and began his consecutive games played streak.

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Cal Ripken 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.

Cal Ripken switched back to third base for the final five years of his career.

In 2001, his final season, Cal Ripken was named the All-Star Game MVP and was honored with the Commissioner's Historic Achievement Award.

Cal Ripken is considered one of the best shortstops in baseball history.

Cal Ripken holds the record for most home runs hit as a shortstop, breaking the record previously held by Ernie Banks, and was selected as the starting shortstop for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

Cal Ripken is a best-selling author and the President and CEO of Cal Ripken Baseball, Inc, whose goal is to grow the love of baseball from a grassroots level.

Cal Ripken has been active in charity work throughout his career and is still considered an ambassador of the game.

Cal Ripken was able to receive instruction from players on his father's teams, notably Doug DeCinces.

Cal Ripken got advice from his father, who once remarked to his mother that his questions were better than the ones reporters had.

At the age of three, Cal Ripken knew he wanted to be a ballplayer, and at the age of 10, Cal Ripken "knew the game inside and out".

Cal Ripken was named the Harford County Most Valuable Player while helping Aberdeen become county champions for the first time since 1959.

In 1979, Cal Ripken moved up to the Single-A Miami Orioles of the Florida State League.

Cal Ripken's performance earned him a brief call-up to the Charlotte Orioles of the Double-A Southern League; Ripken batted.

Cal Ripken was named an All-Star while helping Charlotte win the Southern League championship.

Cal Ripken attended spring training with the Orioles, but was sent to the Rochester Red Wings of the Triple-A International League to start the season.

Cal Ripken started at third base and played all 33 innings against the Pawtucket Red Sox in a game that took parts of three days to complete.

Cal Ripken was named the International League Rookie of the Year.

Manager Earl Weaver planned to have Cal Ripken take over the role of utility infielder, in place of Wayne Krenchicki, who had been sent down to make room for Cal Ripken on the roster.

Cal Ripken scored on a hit by John Lowenstein, giving the Orioles the win.

Cal Ripken received the third base job for the Orioles in 1982 when the team traded DeCinces before the start of the season.

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Cal Ripken 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.

On May 29, Cal Ripken did not play the second game of a doubleheader, the last time he missed a game until 1998.

Cal Ripken played well all season on the way to earning the first of 19 All-Star berths.

Cal Ripken led the major leagues in hits and doubles while leading the AL with 121 runs scored.

Cal Ripken became the first player in MLB history to win Rookie of the Year and MVP Awards in consecutive seasons.

Cal Ripken made the playoffs for the first time as the Orioles won the AL East in 1983.

Cal Ripken finished the game, but afterward, Dr Charles Silverstein ordered him to rest for 24 hours.

Cal Ripken was the first Oriole other than Eddie Murray since 1979 to lead the team in home runs, with 25.

Orioles considered having Cal Ripken replace Ray Knight at third base in 1988, but they decided to keep him at shortstop.

Cal Ripken had a particularly memorable play in the All-Star Game, making a tremendous catch and strong throw to retire Will Clark in the second inning.

Cal Ripken continued the streak to 95 games, breaking the Major League record for shortstops and setting the AL record for infielders other than third basemen.

Cal Ripken committed only three errors in 1990, shattering the previous record of six in a season.

Cal Ripken became the first Major League shortstop ever to tally 30 home runs and 200 or more hits or 30 home runs and 40 or more doubles.

Cal Ripken won his second AL MVP award, his first Gold Glove Award, the All-Star Game MVP Award, the Gatorade Home Run Derby contest, Louisville Slugger "Silver Slugger Award", Associated Press Player of the Year Award, and The Sporting News Player of the Year Award.

Cal Ripken was only the second player to be named league MVP on a team with a losing record; Andre Dawson was the first in 1987, winning the NL MVP with the last-place Chicago Cubs.

Cal Ripken was the last Oriole to bat at the stadium, hitting into a double play against Detroit's Frank Tanana on October 6,1991.

Cal Ripken's slumps continued, and he was even booed by Orioles' fans late in the season.

Cal Ripken's slump continued at the start of the 1993 season, but Ripken managed to get out of it in May by adopting a taller batting stance.

Cal Ripken received a standing ovation from the crowd, the opposing players, and the umpires that lasted more than 22 minutes, one of the longest standing ovations for any athlete; ESPN did not go to a commercial break during the entire ovation.

Cal Ripken began the 1996 season slowly, but his playing improved as the season went on.

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Cal Ripken was told the change would be permanent but was moved back to shortstop after Alexander had one hit in his six games at shortstop.

Cal Ripken appeared in 163 games during the regular season in 1996, batting.

Cal Ripken returned to the playoffs for the first time in 13 years as the Orioles won the AL Wild Card.

Cal Ripken was scheduled to become a free agent following the 1997 season, but at the start of the year he agreed to a two-year extension with the Orioles.

Cal Ripken later stated that he decided to end the streak at the end of the season to avoid any offseason controversy about his playing status and to end the streak entirely on his own terms while he still could.

Cal Ripken returned to the lineup for the final seven games of the season, on the road against the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox.

Cal Ripken achieved the milestone early in the 2000 season in the April 15th game against the Twins at the Metrodome when he singled off reliever Hector Carrasco; Eddie Murray, another member of the club and the Orioles' first-base coach, was the first to congratulate him.

Cal Ripken had a good night at the plate, recording three hits, the third of which was the milestone.

Cal Ripken was selected to the All-Star Game but sat out because of the injury, marking the first All-Star Game that he missed since his rookie season.

In June 2001, Cal Ripken announced he would retire at the end of the season.

Cal Ripken was voted the starting third baseman in the All-Star Game at Seattle's Safeco Field on July 10,2001.

Cal Ripken then homered off the first pitch from Chan Ho Park.

Cal Ripken ended up with All-Star MVP honors, becoming one of four players in MLB history with multiple All-Star Game MVP Awards and the only player to be named All-Star Game MVP in two different decades.

Cal Ripken was healthier in his final season than he had been over his last two, as he appeared in 128 games.

In 1997, Cal Ripken received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council members and Baltimore Orioles co-owners Peter Angelos and Tom Clancy.

Cal Ripken has made donations to many various charitable causes, including donations supporting research on Lou Gehrig's disease.

Cal Ripken gives speeches about his time in baseball and some of the lessons he has learned.

Between 2001 and 2004, inclusive, Ripken served as commissioner of the White House Tee Ball Initiative of President George W Bush, in which capacity he worked to promote the value of teamwork amongst players and volunteership amongst the public and helped to teach tee ball fundamentals to teams of children at the White House.

The documentary showed Cal Ripken accepting his appointment from Rice and featured a variety of interviews, from Cal Ripken's wife Kelly to former Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Karen Hughes.

On May 31,2008, Cal Ripken received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from the University of Delaware and served as the university's commencement speaker.

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On May 19,2013, Cal Ripken received an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree from the University of Maryland while serving as the university's general commencement speaker.

Nonetheless, Cal Ripken demonstrated the ability to play excellent defense at shortstop, and as a result remained a fixture there for well over a decade, leading the league in assists several times, winning the Gold Glove twice, and, in 1990, setting the MLB record for best fielding percentage in a season at his position.

In 1999, Cal Ripken passed Hank Aaron as the player who had grounded into the most double plays in his career.

Cal Ripken is third on the fielding side for double plays by a shortstop.

Cal Ripken was notable for never settling on a signature batting stance during his long career.

Cal Ripken has stated that he never felt comfortable being compared to Gehrig.

The race paid tribute to the legacy of Cal Ripken, who was in attendance greeting the competing drivers as they crossed the stage during driver introductions.

Cal Ripken became an emblem to Americans through his hard work, loyalty to the Orioles, and his charity off the field.

Cal Ripken married the former Kelly Geer at Towson United Methodist Church on Friday, November 13,1987.

In 2018, Ripken married Laura S Kiessling, nee Kaufman, at that time an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge.

Cal Ripken's son Ryan is a baseball player, and was drafted by the Orioles in the 20th round of Major League Baseball's 2012 amateur draft.

Cal Ripken chose to attend college instead, beginning his first year at the University of South Carolina in 2012.

Cal Ripken transferred to Indian River Community College and was drafted in the 15th round of the Major League Baseball's 2014 amateur draft by the Washington Nationals.

Cal Ripken was gone for 12 hours before her disappearance was reported to authorities.

Cal Ripken released the book Parenting Young Athletes the Ripken Way, co-written with Rick Wolff, in 2006 after seeing too many young athletes who he felt were being pressured unnecessarily by their parents.

On January 10,2007, Cal Ripken expressed interest in purchasing the Baltimore Orioles if current owner Peter Angelos were to sell the team.

Cal Ripken had yet to be approached as of 2013 about the potential purchase of the team.

In October 2007, Cal Ripken began working as a studio analyst for TBS Sports during the 2007 Major League Baseball playoffs.

Cal Ripken was on the board of directors of ZeniMax Media until 2021.

In 2015, Cal Ripken sold the Charlotte Stone Crabs to Caribbean Baseball Initiative headed by Lou Schwechheimer.

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