Almost forgot about this. This weekend, Maryland’s own Cal Ripken, Jr. (place of birth: Havre de Grace, MD) is going into the baseball hall of fame. I pooh-pooh baseball a lot, but Ripken’s a great guy and was a great player. Maryland’s Iron Man.
Ripken retired in 2002 as one of seven players in major league history with more than 400 home runs and 3,000 hits. He won two MVP awards, was the 1982 rookie of the year, won two Gold Gloves and was named to the All-Star team an AL-record 19 times.
Oh, and he also played in 2,632 consecutive games, more than anyone in MLB history.
Ripken was and still is a class act. He’s one of those guys that truly loves the game of baseball. I remember watching when he broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive game record. The best thing about it was Chris Berman on ESPN shutting up and allowing the fans to enjoy the moment along with Ripken.
Cal, Jr. really is a class act. The day after Imus said the crap that got him fired, Ripken released a statement that he wouldn’t go on the show as scheduled the next day. Keep in mind that this was before the issue snowballed. Cal, Jr. knew what the right thing to do was and did it.
“Place of birth” is only Havre de Grace because that’s where the hospital is. He’s an Aberdeen boy, through and through. That’s where his family lived, where he grew up, and where he went to school.
Ripken was a great player but he didn’t cancel on Imus until after the suspension of Imus was announced. Two moments that stand out for me were when he broke Gehrig’s record and the Yankees came out of the dugout to applaud and then his final (?) all-star game when Ripken was supposed to play 3rd but A-rod came onto the field and moved from short to 3rd without Ripken knowing to make Ripken play short. That was a class move.
Hedley, Cal broke Gherig’s record against the Angels. The game against the Yankess was at the end of the 1996 season when he voluntarily sat to end the streak.
Cal = class
Imus = jackass
“In light of recent remarks made on the program, Cal will not appear on the show as part of his national book tour,” publicist John Maroon told the Washington Times. Gotham’s publicity director Lisa Johnson confirmed to PW that Ripken would be a no-show, admitting that the appearance “was a really important part of the publicity lineup. But it was totally Cal’s decision,” she said. “It was totally nonnegotiable.”
Over the years, the Imus in the Morning show has proven to be an effective way to sell books—among his regular guests are Anna Quindlen, Mary Higgins Clark, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Tony Hendra and Tim Russert—but it remains to be seen if other authors and their publicists follow Ripken’s lead. On yesterday’s show, Newsweek editor and Imus regular Evan Thomas came to Imus’s defense, as did political columnist Tom Oliphant. But, as Lisa Johnson said, “We’ll see how this thing plays out.”
re: Cal
“And at least one author has made it clear that the Imus show was not a place to promote his book.”
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6432232.html
While Cal Ripken was and is a class act (of the mold that is sorely needed in today’s game), the “what a great player” lie should be put to rest.
He was a career .276 hitter. His legacy comes from simply playing long enough without getting injured (not that it isn’t a magnificent feat).
He was a really nice player… but the only reason he gets into the HOF is because he was beloved.
Dylan, you are an ignorant fool with respect to Cal Ripken’s career. Bill James has him pegged as the #3 greatest shortstop of all time ever. I’ll leave it at that for the moment, while you scramble to figure out who the two who finished ahead of Cal are. Happy googling!
Dylan, he was a shortstop the majority of his career, yet he hit 431 home runs. He had 3184 career hits (14th all time) and 1695 RBI’s (20th all time). He owns 2 MVP awards, a Rookie of the Year award and a World Series ring.
To diminish what he did by attempting to make his entire career about his batting average is absurd.
A Sampling of Hall of Famers with BA’s lower than .276:
Johnny Bench
Carlton Fisk
Ernie Banks
Willie McCovey
Joe Morgan
Mike Schmidt
Phil Rizzuto
Ozzie Smith
Reggie Jackson
And Dylan disses my boyhood hero. Dylan, don’t get a job as a baseball analyst, unless it’s with the Yankees. The guy’s a shortstop whose most similar hitter is Dave Winfield and could field and played for 21 years. That isn’t a Hall-of-Famer, that’s a top tier Hall-of-Famer. James had him third on his shortstop rankings in the latest Historical Abby.
Longevity is a sign of quality. Nobody gets 3000 hits just playing so-so ball for 20 years. If you play so-so ball, you’ll ride the bench once you start aging.
SaveFarris, my bad. You are right of course. A great moment nonetheless.
While Cal Ripken was and is a class act (of the mold that is sorely needed in today’s game), the “what a great player” lie should be put to rest.
You can’t pile up that many hits unless you earn a starting position with a major league team every year for a couple of decades.
Try it.
Just to reiterate that point, Julio Franco has played for forever, has he not? A Career .298 hitter in his 26th year, and he only has 2,600 hits.
To get 3,000 you’ve got to be special.
Sorry, I didn’t check back on the thread for a couple of days.
The Julio Franco example makes my point for me. Julio Franco is two 200-hit seasons away from the 3000 mark. While he won’t reach that now, he might’ve reached it if his career hadn’t been plagued by injury.
Ripken was a very good player and, as such, had a starting role as shortstop for an Orioles team which, if we’re honest, was really good a couple of years, mediocre for a few years, and really bad for most years. He played every game during that stretch, allowing him to just break the 3000 hit mark used as a benchmark for hall of famers.
His entry to the hall is because of that record, pure and simple. He was an adequate SS, but the sole reason he is getting in is longevity.