Cal Ripken, Jr. (with Orioles from 1981-2001)
.276/.340/.447, 3001 G, 12883 PA, 112 OPS+ (with Orioles)
The left side of the infield for the all-time Baltimore Orioles 25-man roster is made up of the two pillars of the Orioles’ franchise, Brooks Robinson and Cal Ripken, Jr. Shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. is the all-time team leader in games played, plate appearances, hits, runs, home runs, RBI, total bases, walks, and WAR.
Everyone knows about Ripken’s 2,632 consecutive games played streak. When he broke Lou Gehrig’s record in September of 1995, it was a huge moment for baseball fans everywhere because it helped MLB recover from the labor stoppage in 1994 that carried over into early 1995. When the game became official, Ripken took a lap around the stadium to thank the fans.
Before Cal Ripken, Jr. showed up, Mark Belanger had been the longtime shortstop for the Orioles under manager Earl Weaver. Belanger was a terrific fielder but a negative on offense. He occasionally had a year where he approached league average as a hitter, but was generally well below average with the bat. In 17 years with the Orioles, Belanger hit .227/.300/.280.
Ripken was drafted in the second round of the 1978 June Amateur draft and began his career as a 17-year-old shortstop for the Bluefield (West Virginia) Orioles in the Appalachian League. He made 33 errors in 62 games. The next year, he split time between shortstop and third base, with more time spent at the hot corner than at short. Because of his size, 6’4 and 200 pounds, no one expected he could play shortstop regularly in the big leagues.
When Weaver brought Ripken up from Triple-A in August, 1981, he made eight stars at shortstop and just one at third base. He started the 1982 season as the regular third baseman and was hitting .267/.300/.455 through his first 69 games. That was when Earl Weaver decided to ignore baseball history and put the 6’4” Cal Ripken, Jr. at shortstop. This was unprecedented. There had never been a regular shortstop as big as Ripken. As Joe Posnasnki wrote in his Ripken entry on his list of the Top 100 players: “This might be hard to believe, but before Ripken came along, there had only been 17 everyday players in major league history (minimum 3,000 plate appearances) who were 6’4” and weighed 200 pounds. None were shortstops. None were second basemen. None were third basemen. You look at the list of 17, and about half were big hulking power hitters without a position (Frank Howard, Dave Kingman, Ken Singleton, Dick Stuart, etc.).”
Ripken started the July 1 game at shortstop and not only held his own on defense, but saw his hitting improve. He hit .262/.329/.490 over the rest of the season. He won the AL Rookie of the Year Award and held the shortstop position in Baltimore for the next 15 years.
After winning the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 1982, Ripken won the AL MVP Award in 1983. He also helped lead the Orioles to a World Series championship, there first since 1970. Then came a 12-year stretch during which the Orioles failed to make the playoffs, followed by back-to-back losses in the ALCS in 1996 and 1997.
In the middle of the 1996 season, Orioles’ manager Davey Johnson moved Ripken to third base. He had been talking about it for a while, but finally made the move on July 15. Manny Alexander started at shortstop. The move didn’t last long. Alexander went 1-for-18 with nine strikeouts and Ripken was back at shortstop less than a week later.
In the off-season, the Orioles signed shortstop Mike Bordick as a free agent and Ripken officially moved to third base. He played his final five seasons at third as he aged into his late 30s. His final season came as a 40-year-old in 2001. Despite no longer being the player he once was, he still made the all-star game thanks to the fan vote. In the third inning of the game, he stepped up to the plate against Chan Ho Park and gave the fans one last, great memory. Park threw a batting practice meatball down the center of the plate and Ripken knocked it over the left field wall at Safeco Field.
Cal Ripken, Jr. is on the short list of greatest shortstops in baseball history. The only guy clearly better according to WAR was Honus Wagner, whose career ended in 1917. Alex Rodriguez also has an argument, but he played 1,000 fewer games at shortstop than Ripken.