Title: A great article by Schmuck
Michael - January 10, 2007 03:32 AM (GMT)
from the Sun:
| QUOTE |
| Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Jan. 9. Ripken received 98.5% of the vote, which ranks as the third-highest of all time. Gwynn got 97.6%, No. 7 all time. Cal Ripken's career speaks for itself. The 3,184 hits. The 431 home runs. The two American League Most Valuable Player awards. The historic string of 2,632 consecutive games played that initially assured his place among the immortals. It will all be on the bronze plaque soon to be cast for display in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. It's going to be hard to fit much else on that plaque, but I hope there still is room to mention what I believe was the most significant achievement of Ripken's amazing career. He set the single-season record for autographs signed during the 1995 season and almost single-handedly persuaded a nation of disaffected fans to give baseball another chance after the labor dispute that wiped out the 1994 World Series. Everybody remembers the famous victory lap of 1995, when Ripken added a very personal touch to the historic night he broke Lou Gehrig's supposedly unbreakable record, but Ripken had begun repairing the broken relationship between the sport and its fans much earlier. He stayed late into the night, game after game, signing every baseball, every autograph book, every scorecard that was proffered in just about every American League city. The lines started forming at the Orioles dugout in the seventh inning and sometimes stretched halfway around the ballpark. Some nights he stood there until well after midnight, while exasperated stadium workers tapped their feet and waited to lock up. The Major League Baseball Players Association had encouraged players to be more engaging with the fans after the lengthy work stoppage, but nobody told Ripken to take the concept to a whole new level. Somehow, he just sensed that his pursuit of Gehrig's record might be the perfect vehicle to drive baseball out of the darkness. "I'm not trying to take on any great responsibility for the game of baseball," he said at the time. "It's not part of any plan." It really wouldn't have mattered if it was. The important thing was the new link he was forging with each impromptu autograph marathon. "When you talk about Cal Ripken, just think where we are today and where we were in 1995," commissioner Bud Selig told USA Today recently. "I will always be grateful to Cal because he started that task of recovery and made it a lot easier. No one should ever diminish his great role in baseball." I agree, which is why I was so disappointed when a Hall of Fame voter announced a few days ago that he had sent in a blank ballot as a protest against baseball's so-called steroid era. I guess the point was to penalize all baseball players for their supposed complicity in the tawdry performance-enhancement scandal that dates to the early 1990s, except that this particular display of self-righteousness missed the point and -- in exchange for a dubious moment in the media spotlight -- painted Ripken and Tony Gwynn with the same ugly brush that was meant for Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire. Sometimes in our enthusiasm to seek justice, we forget to see the whole picture … in this case the picture of a weary Cal Ripken, standing on rubber legs in the gathering darkness because there still were a few hundred fans who wanted his signature. No one should be surprised that Ripken didn't become the first unanimous choice for the Hall of Fame. There has never been a unanimous choice, and there are always a few voters who believe that if the rest of baseball's greatest legends were not inducted with a unanimous vote, why start now. I don't buy that, at least not in the case of a slam-dunk like Ripken. If it takes Carlton Fisk a few ballots to get to Cooperstown, so be it, but I can't imagine anyone looking at Ripken's resume or Gwynn's eight batting titles and making a legitimate case for leaving the box next to either one of their names unchecked. Of course, I was there on many of those nights in the summer of 1995, looking down from the press box at the serpentine line of fans stretching down the right field line. I watched as Ripken wrote his name over and over until I'm sure his hand ached and his feet burned. He won them back, one fan at a time, and for that alone he deserves his bronze plaque in upstate New York -- even if it fails to mention that he once saved baseball from itself. peter.schmuck@baltsun.com |
Cal was my childhood hero. I can honestly say that he never let me down. How many heroes can you say that about? The best thing about Cal is how he carried himself day in and day out. Only someone who observed him 162 games a year can understand that. His example of how you should relate to others and the work ethic you should carry yourself with transcends sports. It is something that I carry with me everyday in my daily walk of life.
Dogg Will Hunt - January 10, 2007 08:15 AM (GMT)
Cal does inspire, I think its great how he has forged a strong bond with fans. And really went out of his way to do so..
Puma170 - January 10, 2007 01:43 PM (GMT)
Cal was also my childhood hero and I am thankful not only that I have never had to deal with "reality" as a result of my hero worship and that in my brief dealings with Cal, I have never walked away disappointed as could so easily happen when the standards are set so high.
I have been running everyday on the tread mill in the basement trying to avoid becoming fat and 30 in the same year and yesterday, while I ran, I watch the Ripken press conference. What is interesing is that Cal can still inspire me at my current age as much as he did when I was 12, 13, 14...
I ran further without noticing yesterday just at watching Cal answer questions and be gracious at a time when Tony Gwynn was "sweating like a slave." It is just another example of how Cal is in a league of his own.
PUMA
I have been running everyday on the tread mill in the basement trying to avoid becoming fat and 30 in the same year and yesterday, while I ran, I watch the Ripken press conference. What is interesing is that Cal can still inspire me at my current age as much as he did when I was 12, 13, 14...
I ran further without noticing yesterday just at watching Cal answer questions and be gracious at a time when Tony Gwynn was "sweating like a slave." It is just another example of how Cal is in a league of his own.
PUMA
Star Man - January 10, 2007 03:07 PM (GMT)
cal is what is right with baseball.
osfan58202233 - January 10, 2007 05:32 PM (GMT)
i've heard people talk about the marathon autograph sessions, but i never realized it was like this. i'm really glad PSchmuck chose to write about that.
this morning, as i was getting ready to head into the day, i was struck by something he said about the streak (i think it was the streak -- i saw or heard so many quotes from him yesterday, hard to sift through em, and it actually might have been about his streak, or about retiring from the game, or about being named to the Hall of Fame, because it seems to fit how he has approached all of them) anyway, he said something to the effect that he always has a new goal to reach for, a new challenge that he's ready to face and learn about and grow from and take on and achieve.
how easy it would be for most people to relax and just slide into "old age," having reached what some might consider the ultimate goal for any ballplayer.
and that just isn't anything like who he is.
coming up on a milestone birthday of my own, puma, and that way of living is just the inspiration i need.
oh ~~~ and here's to the hope that his primary new goal is owning a major league team called the Orioles someday soon :P
this morning, as i was getting ready to head into the day, i was struck by something he said about the streak (i think it was the streak -- i saw or heard so many quotes from him yesterday, hard to sift through em, and it actually might have been about his streak, or about retiring from the game, or about being named to the Hall of Fame, because it seems to fit how he has approached all of them) anyway, he said something to the effect that he always has a new goal to reach for, a new challenge that he's ready to face and learn about and grow from and take on and achieve.
how easy it would be for most people to relax and just slide into "old age," having reached what some might consider the ultimate goal for any ballplayer.
and that just isn't anything like who he is.
coming up on a milestone birthday of my own, puma, and that way of living is just the inspiration i need.
oh ~~~ and here's to the hope that his primary new goal is owning a major league team called the Orioles someday soon :P
actorgersh - January 10, 2007 06:28 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (osfan58202233 @ Jan 10 2007, 12:32 PM) |
| i've heard people talk about the marathon autograph sessions, but i never realized it was like this. i'm really glad PSchmuck chose to write about that. |
I know I've posted about it numerous times, but the fact Cal signed his book at the Towson Borders after a 10 inning slugfest victory against the Yankees (still my all time favorite that I attended) until 3am I think sums up pretty well about him.
writerjmk44 - January 11, 2007 05:57 PM (GMT)
Cal was never in the tabloids for being arrested or drinking in bars. He wasn't making silly political statements and he wasn't bitching about money. He didn't cry about a hangnail (or a severly sprained ankle or knee, for that matter). No, he just set a wonderful example for adults and youth alike. His true legacy isn't resurrecting baseball from the grave in 1995. It isn't his achievements on the field alone. Rather, it was his ability to carry himself with the respect for the game and people that transcends baseball. His work with youngsters might be his biggest legacy, as he is creating a whole new crop of baseball fans who know how to play the game the right way, the Oriole Way, the Ripken Way. Perhaps when these kids take the field 10 or 15 years from now, they will carry themselves like gentlemen--but with a competitive fire that makes them hungry to play everyday. Maybe that crop of players will one day supplant the crop of greedy, needy, crybabies who have no time for autographs because they have to rush off to the local club to chase skirts.
The nation will miss and respect Cal much more at a much later date because he and Tony Gwynn are the last of a dying breed. The only player left of a high caliber ability to stay with the same team throughout a career is Jeter. But Jeter's no Cal Ripken. There will never be another Cal Ripken. He's one of a kind.
The nation will miss and respect Cal much more at a much later date because he and Tony Gwynn are the last of a dying breed. The only player left of a high caliber ability to stay with the same team throughout a career is Jeter. But Jeter's no Cal Ripken. There will never be another Cal Ripken. He's one of a kind.