Happy Belated Birthday to the “Iron Man,” Cal Ripken Jr., one of the greatest Shortstops ever played. It wasn’t just the twenty-one years he played with the Baltimore Orioles, being born to Cal. Sr., a Player/Coach for the Orioles organization, you can state that Ripken was an Oriole from birth. When it comes to the career of Cal Ripken Jr., on and off the field, I don’t think there is one negative thing you can point out. But since this is about the baseball career, I will stick to just Cal on the field.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1981-2001): 

.276 BA 3,184 HITS 431 HR 1,695 RBI 1,647 RUNS .340 OBP

  • 19x All-Star
  •  8x Silver Slugger
  •  2x Gold Glove
  •  2x MVP (1983 & 1991)
  •  World Series Champion (1983)
  •  Rookie of the Year (1982)
  •  Roberto Clemente Award (1992)
  •  2,632 Consecutive Games Played (Record)
  •  8,243 Consecutive Innings Played (Record)

Offensively, he holds the record for most Home Runs by a Shortstop with (345). Despite winning two MVPs, he only has a little black type on the back of his baseball card, but consider this. The guy played a record 2,632 consecutive games and 8,243 Innings at Shortstop the second most physically demanding position. Also, factor in a lot of the Oriole teams he played on were either mediocre or below mediocre, only making the playoffs three times. What Ripken did offensively over a 162-game average is quite impressive.

162 Game Career-Average:

.276 BA 172 HITS 23 HR 91 RBI 89 RUNS .340 OBP

For most of his career, Ripken was a Shortstop, in which he developed into a great all-around player. Defensively, he wasn’t the fastest in getting to the ball; however, he studied the opposing batters and pitchers to better position himself. Besides winning two Gold Gloves, he had a lifetime .979 Fielding Percentage at Shortstop, as well as holding at least one record (either in a season, career, or most seasons leading the league) in Assists, Putouts, Fielding Percentage, Double Plays, and Fewest Errors.

The game of Baseball is about guys like Cal Ripken Jr. The night Ripken officially passed Lou Gehrig for the all-time Consecutive Games Played record, about 99.9% of the baseball world was so happy and amazed. Major League Baseball ran a poll on its website, and the moment Ripken broke the record, it was regarded as the “Most Memorable Moment” in baseball history. Whether the team wasn’t doing well or was playing physically or mentally banged up, or whatever else was going on away from the ball field, Cal showed up to the ballpark on time for every game and gave it his all, always looking to get better. He was nicknamed “The Man of 1,000 Stances”, never having a signature batting stance at the plate, constantly changing things up and exploring a better approach. Unfortunately, in today’s game, the way that teams approach resting players, it’s very likely that every player will only make it halfway to breaking Cal Ripken’s all-time consecutive game record. If you don’t respect the player of Cal Ripken Jr., you, my friend, aren’t a real baseball fan. In 1999, while still playing, he was ranked #78 on The Sporting News list 100 Greatest Baseball Players list. After 2001, Ripken retired from the game wearing only a Baltimore Orioles jersey, and in 2007, was Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame wearing an Orioles hat. 

References:

  1. Cal Ripken Jr. via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cal_Ripken_Jr.#
  2. Cal Ripken Jr. Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ripkeca01.shtml