Curtain Closes On Cal's Career

Several hours after his 3001st and final game as a Baltimore Oriole, after his media interviews were completed and after the last fan had vacated a darkened Camden Yards, Cal Ripken had a chance to reflect.

Still in his game uniform — no Oriole ever would wear his No. 8 again — Ripken and his wife, Kelly, sat down in the home team dugout with a bottle of Champagne. Finally alone together, they shared with each other what they were feeling at the conclusion of a day in which a city and a country said goodbye to one of the most admired ballplayers in the history of the game.

They talked about the emotions of the day — everyone from former president Bill Clinton to baseball commissioner Bud Selig to one-time teammates like Frank Robinson, Ken Singleton and Al Bumbry were on hand to salute him. And they talked about what their future might be like together and with their two children now that Ripken won't have to trot off around the country every spring and summer playing a game populated by men generally much younger than his 41 years. “It's the next phase of our lives,” Ripken explained, back from the dugout interlude with Kelly and sitting in an almost abandoned clubhouse as he shed his uniform for the last time as a major league ballplayer.

The game itself had not gone as Ripken or probably everyone else in the ballpark, save the opposing Boston Red Sox, had hoped it might. The Orioles lost once again and, much to the chagrin of Ripken's legions of admirers, the retiring star went hitless.

But as even Ripken himself would later acknowledge, this day was about more than just baseball.

“The cool thing about the end was that it was a human experience,” he explained. “It was less about baseball. It was more a people thing.” Of course had Ripken not ended on such a down note — he got only two hits in his last 48 at-bats — he might have concluded it was entirely about baseball. For 21 years, Ripken, after all, helped define the way baseball should be played at the highest level.

“I never saw him make a mistake,” said Curt Schilling, the Diamondback star who briefly was an Oriole. “Fundamentally, he was perfect.”

“I've never been around a player,” said Orioles manager Mike Hargrove, “that commands the respect the Cal commands — the admiration and the respect.”

Certainly, Ripken was a great player for what he accomplished on the field. He was 19 times an All-Star, twice an American League MVP. His consecutive games streak is an achievement that is most appreciated by his fellow player s, not the fans, because only they know how impossible a feat it truly was. He set records in the field and at the plate for a shortstop. He ranks among the top all-time achievers in many of baseball's most significant statistics. Yet it wasn't really what he did on the field that elevated Ripken to such an extraordinary plateau in the public mind. It was his character, as well as the way he conducted himself on the field and the way he connected with the fans.

President Clinton said during the post-game ceremonies honoring Ripken that there were many incredible accomplishments in baseball in 2001 — Barry Bonds' amazing home run pace, the Mariners' record number of victories, just to mention two. But, added Clinton, “I think the greatest story of this year is Cal Ripken.” And the reason was his exemplary character, according to the former president, who described Ripken as “the kind of man every father would like his son to be.”

Selig said Major League Baseball is establishing a Cal Ripken Jr. Award, which will be given annually, beginning next season, to any player who appears in every one of his team's scheduled games during a season. Ripken made that achievement seem easy over the 17 consecutive seasons he did not miss a game. But, in fact, it's a rarity. In an ordinary season, only one or two players appear in all their team's games.

Ripken had a knack at making difficult feats look easy. That's because he worked so hard to reach the level of perfection that Schilling mentioned. Even in his final games, when he was besieged by the media and other celebrities and potential sponsors — all of whom wanted a piece of him — Ripken would dutifully take his swings in the cage and his ground balls at third base, as he has for seemingly decades.

Hargrove had broached the idea of letting Ripken play an inning at shortstop during the final game. But Ripken said no.

“I'd like it to be as normal as possible,” Ripken said in explaining why he didn't want to accept that honorary gesture. For Ripken, “normal” meant doing whatever was necessary to win. And putting him at shortstop, when he wouldn't have been prepared to play the position, would not help the team win.

The one record that Ripken has that is unlikely ever to be broken — and couldn't be calculated if anyone ever came close — is most autographs signed by an active major leaguer. In Camden Yards and at other parks around the nation, he often would remain hours after the game signing autographs for fans.

On the night before his final game, the Orioles had to toss him off the field to rehearse the next day's festivities when he stayed until almost midnight signing autographs. Frequently, he would stay much longer.

Why has he gone so far beyond what any other player ever has done to put his name on a piece of paper — or on a ball or a cap or whatever else a fan might stick in front of him?

He said it's a way to bridge the gap between the fans and players, to establish an exchange between those who love baseball because they play it for a living and those who love baseball because they enjoy watching it be played. It's also a way to say thanks to the fans for all the support they have given him and baseball over the years. Ripken recommended that other players do the same thing.

But don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen. There is only one Cal Ripken, and he is now a retired baseball player, a retired Baltimore Oriole. And for many Baltimoreans who long took his greatness for granted, he is likely to be more greatly appreciated in his retirement than he was during his playing years.