A Hometown Hero
Calvin Edwin Ripken, Jr. was born on August 24, 1960 in Havre de Grace, Maryland. His father, Cal Sr. was a minor league player. His mother, Violet had been a softball star in high school. Minor league ballplayers live nomadic lives, therefore, the family moved around quite a bit. When he was in sixth grade, Cal, Jr. wrote, "...before I was a year old, we journeyed to Daytona Beach, Florida; Thomasville, Georgia; Little Rock, Arkansas; Leesburg, Florida; and Rochester, New York." When Cal, Sr.'s career as a player ended, due to a shoulder injury, he became a manager in the Orioles organization. Cal, Jr. spent his entire childhood surrounded by the sights, sounds and smells of the ballpark. It is no wonder that he is where he is today!!
Cal worked his way up through the minors and signed his first major leage contract at the age of 22 in February of 1982. He opened the season as the Orioles' third baseman on April 5 against Kansas City. On his first trip to the plate, he launched a drive over the fence for a two-run homer. He said, "I could hardly believe it, and I didn't go into my home run trot, I almost jumped into the air and then really flew around the bases." On May 30, 1983, Cal started in the game and has not failed to start in any game since, little did he know at the time that this was the beginning of his pursuit of Lou Gehrig's consecutive games streak. Earl Weaver made the decision to move him to shortstop until they could find another person for the job. Until the beginning of the 1997 season, Cal remained at shortstop. Then he was returned to third base, where he continues to play just as hard as he started out sixteen years ago.
Ripken is not just a star on the field. He is a family man, and a man concerned with the wellbeing of others. He has been married to his beautiful wife Kelly for almost eleven years, and they have two children, Rachel and Ryan. Lucky for Cal, Rachel was born during the off-season and Ryan was born in the summer on the day of an exhibition game, so Cal was able to be present for both miraculous events. The Ripken family has contributed much of their time and money to local charities and programs, including the program to support adult literacy, called "Reading, Runs and Ripken". Cal has endorsed many products and has appeared on several products that donated proceeds to some of his charities. These included candy bars and milk. I think that Cal Ripken, Jr. is not just a great baseball man, he is a wonderful husband and father with a great heart and love for helping others; and it is for this that I admire him the most!!
I had the oppurtunity to attend this game. What an evening that was!! As the John Tesh song, "Day One" began to play after the fifth inning (this is when it is considered to be the completion of the game) and the numbers on the warehouse fell to 2130, I began to feel chills. It was so exciting, I clapped just as long and hard as the other 45,000 fans. The man that I had followed for twelve years had done the unspeakable; he had tied Lou Gehrig's record. This had to have been one of the best experiences in my life!! The game the next night, September 6, 1995, when he broke the record, I felt the chills from home, but it wasn't any less exciting. CONGRATULATIONS CAL!! To this day, he still has not missed a game and I still watch whenever I can. Keep up the good work!!
To learn more about Cal Ripken, check out these links!!
Cal Ripken: Living Legend
Cal Ripken: One for the ages
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