Cal Ripken, Jr.
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Calvin Edwin "Cal" Ripken Jr., nicknamed "The Iron Man", is an American former baseball shortstop and third baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseballfor the Baltimore Orioles. 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. He was a 19-time All-Star and was twice named American LeagueMost Valuable Player. Ripken is best known for...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth24 August 1960
CityHavre De Grace, MD
CountryUnited States of America
The reality is that players can't play forever.
I kept thinking, 'this must be the coolest job - I'd like to be a professional baseball player.' They were getting paid to play a game, and what a cool lifestyle that was.
There is a feeling when you are in Yankee Stadium that it is a very sacred ground you are walking on and you know you had the same feelings that other great players have had in other eras that played right there on that field.
One person's going to win, and everybody else is going to not win. So let's not feel like we're losers. Let's utilize the cultural opportunities, get to know the other players on the other team, look around you, enjoy your world series.
I had aches and pains when I played. No player is ever 100 percent, 80 percent, 85 percent. Guys that play 158 or 162 or 145, we are all in the same boat.
You learn as a player not to listen to the criticism. Many of the people who put out that criticism might not be as accomplished, might not understand the game as well from the inside-out.
Your job as a baseball player is to come to the park ready to play every day, and the manager, it's his job to make those decisions about who plays.
Quite frankly, I don't miss standing in the box or standing on the field playing.
Even though my dad was a manager in the minor leagues, I still traveled around with him and saw it from the field out. Now, as an owner, you're kind of looking from the whole baseball activity from outside in, from a fan's perspective.
I've been asked to interview for many managing jobs, and I never said yes because I was never serious about it, and I thought it would be wrong to go through that process.
I have goals and ambitions, and I see myself as a lifelong baseball student. I have certain philosophies that I'd like to test at some point at the big league level. The job of manager appeals to me, a coach appeals to me, at a different time frame.
My dad was part of the Oriole way. I think he was there 14 years in the minor leagues; I think seven of those years, they had the same people in place. So it was about continuity. It was about stability.
Baseball can be slow in many ways. The action starts with when the pitcher delivers the ball. But the action really starts when the crack of the bat happens.
I did make a choice when I got away from baseball to be there to get my kids off to college.