50 Fun Facts About Cal Ripken Jr.

Ripken played his entire 21-season career for which team?

He grew up in the organisation, where his father was a player and coach, and later bought a minority stake in the club.

What is Ripken's famous nickname?

The Iron Horse was Lou Gehrig, the man whose record he broke.

Ripken holds the MLB record for what?

He also holds the unofficial record for consecutive innings, 8,243, until his father pulled him from a blowout in 1987.

Whose 56-year-old record did Ripken break in 1995?

DiMaggio, Gehrig's old teammate, spoke at the ceremony after the record-breaking game.

Which brother of Ripken's also played for the Orioles?

They are one of only four brother pairs in MLB history to play second base and shortstop for the same club.

Which consecutive game number set the new record in September 1995?

When the game became official in the fifth inning, the banner on the warehouse beyond right field flipped from 2130 to 2131.

In which year did Ripken break the consecutive-games record?

It came a year after a strike had cancelled the World Series, and fans later voted it baseball's most memorable moment.

What uniform number did the Orioles retire for Ripken?

Dale Earnhardt Jr., also driving number 8, won the NASCAR race renamed in Ripken's honour that same month.

In which year was Ripken elected to the Hall of Fame?

A record 75,000 people attended the induction, where he went in alongside Tony Gwynn.

Who was the Orioles manager who first wrote two of his sons into a lineup in 1987?

He was fired after an 0–6 start the following season; the team went on to lose its first 21 games.

At how many games did Ripken's streak finally end?

He chose to sit out the last home game of 1998 so the streak would end on his own terms.

How many Gold Glove Awards did Ripken win?

Many felt he was robbed in 1990, when he made only three errors all season and Ozzie Guillén won with 17.

In 1991 Ripken won the All-Star Game MVP and which other All-Star week event?

He hit a then-record 12 homers in 22 swings, including seven in a row to open the contest.

Which US president attended Ripken's record-breaking game?

Clinton joined the ESPN commentators for half an inning; Al Gore was there too.

Which network carried Ripken's record-breaking game live?

It remains one of the network's most-watched baseball games, and it never cut to a commercial during the 22-minute ovation.

Ripken's only World Series title came in 1983 against which team?

He hit just .167 in the series but caught the final out, a Garry Maddox lineout in Game 5.

Ripken won AL Rookie of the Year in which year?

He was hitting .118 on May 1 before advice from Reggie Jackson turned his season around.

Which Hall of Fame manager moved Ripken from third base to shortstop in 1982?

Weaver's logic: a shortstop who can hit is harder to find than a third baseman who can.

In which two seasons did Ripken win the AL MVP award?

He was the first player ever to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in consecutive seasons.

Ripken grew up in, and later bought a team for, which Maryland town?

The IronBirds play at Ripken Stadium, where his son Ryan later played in the Orioles system.

Whose record for home runs as a shortstop did Ripken break?

Banks came to a ceremony and said he was happy, because it gave him a chance 'to come back and be remembered too'.

How many career hits did Ripken finish with?

Number 3,000 came in April 2000 off Héctor Carrasco of the Twins.

How many times was Ripken named an All-Star?

He was All-Star Game MVP in 1991 and 2001, the only player to win it in two different decades.

How tall was Ripken, unusually for a shortstop of his era?

Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra and Miguel Tejada are all seen as part of that legacy.

Which shortstop swapped positions with Ripken at the 2001 All-Star Game?

Ripken then homered on the first pitch he saw, from Chan Ho Park, and won the game's MVP.

Ripken was the last Oriole to bat at which ballpark in 1991?

He hit into a double play against Frank Tanana; the team moved to Camden Yards the next spring.

Who was inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside Ripken in 2007?

Ripken fell eight votes short of unanimity; John Travolta was among his guests at the ceremony.

Why was Ripken's final game moved from New York to Baltimore?

The missed home games were tacked onto the schedule, so he finished on October 6 at Camden Yards in the on-deck circle.

Ripken was chosen as starting shortstop on which honorary MLB lineup?

His 345 homers at the position are still the record.

Ripken ended his streak in 1998 before a final home game against which team?

David Wells was the first visiting player to notice he was missing from batting practice; both dugouts applauded after the first out.

In which round of the 1978 draft did the Orioles select Ripken?

He was a star pitcher in high school too, and the Orioles were the only club not mainly interested in his arm.

Ripken got his 3,000th hit in 2000 against which team?

His 2,000th consecutive game had also come at the Metrodome, in 1994.

Ripken's career-best .340 batting average came in which season?

He did it in an injury-shortened year, days after his father died, and finished nine hits short of 3,000.

What percentage of the Hall of Fame vote did Ripken receive?

Only Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Ichiro Suzuki, Ken Griffey Jr., Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan have scored higher.

What was the title of Ripken's 1997 autobiography?

He has written or co-written 17 books, including children's fiction and a youth-coaching guide with his brother.

Ripken was named Special Sports Envoy in 2007 and sent to which country?

The trip became a documentary, A Shortstop in China, covering 11 clinics from Beijing to Guangzhou.

Roughly how long was the standing ovation at Ripken's record-breaking game?

He spent it jogging a lap of the warning track shaking hands, after teammates pushed him out of the dugout.

By how many games did Ripken's final streak exceed the old record?

That is more than three full seasons beyond a mark many had called unbreakable.

Whose world record for consecutive games did Ripken pass in 1996?

The Japanese star was in the stands in Kansas City to watch game number 2,216.

Ripken's 1992 contract, then baseball's largest, was worth how much over five years?

The negotiations distracted him so badly that he posted career lows of 14 homers and 72 RBIs.

Who replaced Cal Ripken Sr. as Orioles manager after the 0–6 start in 1988?

The losing continued to 0–21; Ripken later wrote a children's book about that season called The Longest Season.

Which future Hall of Famer played for Pawtucket in Ripken's 33-inning 1981 game?

The longest professional game ever took parts of three days to finish.

In which Maryland town was Ripken born?

His father was away in Topeka, Kansas, coaching one of his teams when he was born.

For which Triple-A team did Ripken play the longest game in pro history?

He was International League Rookie of the Year that season before his August call-up.

Ripken's 1991 All-Star Game home run came off which pitcher?

A three-run shot off his former Orioles teammate decided a 4–2 AL win.

Which rookie started at third base when Ripken finally sat out in 1998?

He initially assumed the lineup card was a prank.

How long was Ripken's consecutive-innings streak, ended by his father in 1987?

Cal Sr. called it a 'burden' and said 'I had to do it sometime' after lifting him in a blowout in Toronto.

Which 3,000-hit club member and Orioles coach congratulated Ripken first on hit 3,000?

Murray was coaching first base, so he was literally the closest man to him.

Ripken was the first AL MVP on a losing team; which 1987 NL MVP did it first?

The 1991 Orioles went 67–95 and finished sixth.

Which teammates pushed Ripken out of the dugout for his 1995 victory lap?

He thought the idea was ridiculous until the lap turned into 50,000 one-on-one moments with people he knew.