Cal Ripken Jr.: Legend, Game Ambassador and Baseball Savant

Cal Ripken Jr. wrote a compelling article for The Players’ Tribune on Tuesday reflecting on The Streak as he experienced it, and if you haven’t read it, it’s worth the time. Reading the story was reminiscent for me, as I was fortunate enough to hear it straight from the legend himself when I met Ripken four years ago. At 2:22 AM local time, covering minor roster moves and nightly recaps seems like a dull task at the moment, so instead I thought I’d take the time to tell that story instead:

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There’s a lot of stereotypical things you should supposedly know when you grow up in the state of Maryland. As a kid, I subscribed to none of them, except for knowing who Cal Ripken Jr. was. I wasn’t much of a baseball fan in my younger years (feel free to laugh at that taking into account that I’ve yet to crack 20), but I sure knew who Cal was. Everyone knew who Cal was.

I grew up enamored by the idea of meeting celebrities, and meeting Cal was high on my list. And at a 2008 game at Camden Yards between the Orioles and Yankees, I thought I was going to get the chance.

Since I was a 12-year-old who was just starting to learn baseball at the time, I don’t remember all the details of what happened that day. But while I didn’t realize it at the time, I’ve since learned that when I first saw him, Ripken was standing and tipping his cap to the crowd because it was the 10-year anniversary of the day he finally ended “The Streak.” I was experiencing a historic moment and it took me some seven years to realize it. (Who knows, perhaps I was also knighted at some point. If someone can look through old photos and make sure that didn’t happen while I was blinking, I’d greatly appreciate it.)

Completely unaware of the significance of the game, my friend Alex and I walked down to Ripken’s section in hopes of getting his autograph, but were quickly turned away by an usher that wisely assumed that there was no way in hell we had tickets behind home plate.

“Y’all have tickets to this section? I don’t think so.”

I didn’t meet Ripken that day, but I would go on to meet my childhood hero some four years later when I was working for a summer wooden bat league team in Bethesda, Maryland. The team was hosting the league All-Star game, and Cal’s son, Ryan, was playing in the game. The game took place the day after the MLB All-Star Game, and I assumed that Ripken would still be in Kansas City having worked pre-game coverage for TBS the day before. But, just in case, I packed a ball and a sharpie.

I arrived at the ballpark and went up to my usual spot in the press box for the game, and lo and behold, Ripken was there being schmoozed by men twice his age that worked in the league’s front offices. Would I ever get to meet him? I conceded it was unlikely, as the Hall of Famer went down to the concourse to meet fans. He’s pretty damn good about that, but more on that later.

With the game just about to start, I sat down in my usual chair, opened up my laptop and made sure my overpriced soda and burger were in such a position that they were both accessible and also not at risk to spill all over my computer. As I write this, it’s occurring to me that I should take similar precautions with the Coke can I have sitting some three inches from my right hand. But I digress…

Oct 11, 2014; Baltimore, MD, USA; Cal Ripken, Jr. takes a bow from the TBS TV booth between the third and fourth inning in game two of the 2014 ALCS game between the Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Just before first pitch, I hear a foreign but strangely familiar voice over my shoulder.

“Mind if I sit here?”

And there he was. The Iron Man himself. And I, in my tall black spinning chair with a comfy cushion, let him take the worn down plastic stool bound to break any day. Nice going, Mike.

For about an inning or so, I planned out my icebreaker. What the hell do I say to one of the greatest baseball players of all time? Well, seeing as I, too, am named after my father, I came up with this opener that I thought was just so darn clever.

“So Cal, I’ve been getting called Jr. my whole life. Any tips?”

Yeah, that’s what I came up with. God, it sucked. I knew it. And he did too, giving me a look that suggested “You’ve been sitting there for 20 minutes in silence and that’s the best you came up with?” And he was right. I now have my Dumb Ass badge proudly displayed on my boy scout sash. I don’t even remember what he ultimately said, though he was at least nice about it.

After working through the awkward opening, I finally got to talk with him some. And for as much as I had heard and read about Ripken’s baseball IQ, I was still blown away. The way he broke down everything he watched in the field, it was appalling that he wasn’t in a big league dugout busy managing a major-league team that night. You’d think he had invented the game.

Somehow, someway, the topic of Bryce Harper losing a ball in the lights in the previous night’s MLB All-Star Game came up. Some folks were laughing at how bad it made Harper, then a mega-prospect not yet established, look. Instead of chiming in, Ripken proceeded to explain to me how different the placement of the lights are in each stadium, and how tricky it can be the first time a player plays in a new ballpark. Turns he made a similar play on a ball his first time playing in Milwaukee.

A five-minute conversation about stadium lights. When you think about ballpark factors, who the hell thinks of stadium lights? Only Cal.

Mar 12, 2014; Sarasota, FL, USA; Cal Ripken, Jr. talks with Baltimore Orioles manager

before the start of the spring training exhibition game against the Philadelphia Phillies at

Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports

We also talked about 1996 American League Championship Series, and how Ripken wasn’t so upset about Jeffrey Maier interfering, but was actually more upset about another call from a different game in the series. The vivid detail he described it all and the recall he had was something else, and here I am four years later unable to remember a damn thing.

The last topic we discussed before he departed in the sixth inning to take a phone call from his wife was what made Ripken finally decide to end his streak of consecutive games played. He mentioned how the decision had been made some weeks earlier, when the Orioles realized they were realistically sliding out of the playoff picture, and how the team wanted to help make the ceremony upbeat while the Orioles were still in the mix. He went on to talk about his victory lap and how it felt like it had gone on forever, and how at some point coming down the third base line, he realized that he was still in the fifth inning of a ballgame and had a game to finish. Hearing a story like that from the protagonist with such incredible detail and passion is something that’s once in a lifetime.

Ripken stayed well over an hour after the game ended to sign autographs for fans, and what impressed me even more than his recall, his knowledge or his passion was his patience. Every fan that wanted one left with an autograph that night, some with a picture as well. I was fortunate to leave with both myself, and I may have also saved the mostly empty bag of popcorn Ripken left by his seat. Some people collect athletes’ underwear, so I didn’t feel that was crossing the line.

I’ve yet to meet a man that could talk baseball as intelligently, as passionately and as elegantly as Cal Ripken Jr. While he’s clearly done quite well for himself running his Ripken Baseball complex in Aberdeen, Maryland (where the Orioles’ Short-A affiliate, which he also owns, plays), it’s a crime that he hasn’t been considered for more managerial openings over the last few seasons considering the experience and pure baseball sapience he brings to the table.

But whether Ripken ever makes it back into uniform or not, there are few that have ever left as lasting an impact on the game, and there’s still plenty of time for the man they call “Cal” to keep doing his thing.