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Cal Ripken Jr. turned 50 on Tuesday, which would have caused me to let out a gasp and a “Where did it go?” or a “How can this be?” had I not beaten the Ironman to this milestone myself by about 14 months.
The realization that Cal Ripken Jr. is 50 didn’t hit me the way men of my father’s generation were absolutely dumbfounded when Elizabeth Taylor turned 40, at the time being convinced my old man would sue Life Magazine for putting out such a slanderous spread, “Liz at 40!”
Maybe it’s because, as an Orioles season-ticket holder at the time, I had the opportunity to see Cal come up to the bigs firsthand. But while he became one of the greatest players of all-time and the greatest ambassador for the game of baseball of his time, maybe it’s because he was never my absolute favorite player. That distinction, of course, still belongs to Brooks Robinson, the one and only No. 5.
And besides, even during Cal’s time, my favorite player was Eddie Murray.
Maybe it’s a generational thing. After all, Cal was brand new to the Orioles when he came up from Rochester in August of 1981. He was, after all, a rookie, while I had much more time with the big-league club, having been a season-ticket holder for the entire first half of the ’81 season. Maybe it was because Cal was over a year younger than I was and Eddie was the same age as my brother, who is four years my senior.
Or maybe it was because Eddie Murray was the best clutch hitter I ever saw.
Matter of fact, directly following Eddie on my list of favorites at the time was John Lowenstein, the cunning and irresistible Brother Lo, who possessed a powerful flair for the dramatic as well as the absurd.
However, on the occasion of Cal Ripken Jr.’s 50th birthday, thinking through all of the wonderful times spent in Memorial Stadium and then to some degree Camden Yards, there can be no denying he did in fact become the face of the Orioles and was at the center of some of the most endearing and thrilling times I have experienced in my life.
First of all, he grew up an Oriole — going to all of the minor and major-league ballparks with his dad, Orioles icon Cal Ripken Sr.
I remember his much anticipated first big-league spring training and seeing his No. 8 the first time he would wear it (he wore No. 5 in the minors, by the way) and realizing immediately that it looked like a good and likely number to one day be retired by the Orioles.
Nobody worked harder than Ripken did and he played the game the way it was supposed to be played. But make no mistake about it, the kid was a natural, and too often through the years his Hall of Fame baseball skills, I believe, were unfairly overshadowed by his Hall of Fame work ethic, not to mention The Streak.
Bill Feeney and I were there that August evening in 1981 when Cal played in his first big-league game against Kansas City, scoring the winning run from second as a pinch-runner of all things (hey, it was for Ken Singleton) in the 10th inning of the first game of the second-half season of that horrible strike-marred year. The Orioles, as was their habit, finished 1981 with the best record in the American League. But as was also their fate, bad luck and bad decision-making on the part of Major League Baseball intervened and they failed to finish first in either “season,” missing the playoffs again, one year after winning 100 games and finishing three games out.
We were there for Cal’s first big-league home run on Opening Day 1982 (Eddie hit a grand slam), also against Kansas City.
We were there for Cal’s Opening Day homer off of Roger Clemens to set the tone for the improbable and unforgettable “Why Not?” season of 1989.
We were there in 1991 when he became the last player to take the field in Memorial Stadium.
We were there at Camden yards the nights he tied and surpassed Lou Gehrig, hitting home runs in both games.
We were there for his last game.
Cal Ripken Jr. 50? Why not? The Say Hey Kid, after all, is 79. But on any milestone anniversary it is good and right, as Cal described the game of baseball upon surpassing Gehrig, and it is fitting to take the time to remember all of the wonder he brought to baseball and to the Baltimore Orioles.
I was fortunate to be there for a lot and I’m even more fortunate to still be able to remember a lot. Yet I am hopeful, even certain, I will be there and remember much more of what Cal Ripken Jr. will continue to bring to baseball. For as great a player as he was — and he will forever be one of the all-time greats — I believe his greatest contributions to the Orioles and to Baltimore are still to come.
So as the good people of Bawlmer, hon, eagerly take every opportunity to say to their beloved friends and heroes, Thanks, Cal.
Happy 50th. Welcome to the club, kid.
Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Write to him at mburke@times-news.com
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