Cal Ripken Jr.'s Biography

Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr. was born on August 24, 1960 in Havre de Grace, Maryland. "Cal" was raised in Aberdeen, Maryland by a "baseball" family that included his father, Cal Ripken Sr., a long-time baseball coach, and his brother Billy, who also played in the majors. Remarkably, Ripken spent his entire 21 year career with one ballclub, his hometown Baltimore Orioles. Considered to have redefined the position of shortstop, Cal also played third base with the Orioles from 1981 to 2001.

Ripken was selected to the All-Star game 19 times, was the 1982 Rookie of the Year, won the AL Most Valuable Player award twice (1983, 1991) and was a 2-time Gold Glove Award winner (1991, 1992). Cal collected an impressive 3184 hits and 431 home runs throughout his career. In 1995, Ripken surpassed Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive games played (2,130) and voluntarily ended his streak in 1998 after playing 2,632 consecutive games. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007.

After retiring, Ripken continued to dedicate his life to baseball. In 2001 he established Ripken Baseball whose mission is to grow the game of baseball worldwide "The Ripken Way." The organization runs youth baseball leagues and operates a successful minor league business with recent acquisitions of the Aberdeen IronBirds and the Augusta GreenJackets.