Iron streak: cast iron memorabilia honors Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr.'s streak

Modern Casting, Sept, 2007 by Shannon Wetzel

"We spend a lot of time on surface finish here," Luccetti said. "We use a 100-grain sand, and we riddle facing sand over the pattern for every mold. The surface finish was one thing that concerned George about making them in green sand. But he was happy with the result."

The job brought schoolboy enthusiasm into the small shop of Cumberland Foundry. "There are some diehard baseball fans here who were excited about the project," Luccetti said. "It really created a rush in the shop."

The Pitch

After the success of the IronEights venture, the Lips are eager to continue with new lines of cast iron memorabilia for various sectors of American life. Future plans include NASCAR mementos made with scrap metal from racecars put out to pasture and cast iron numbers commemorating different fire companies throughout the U.S. They plan to continue using domestic metalcasting facilities.

"We've wanted a domestic casting supplier all along. We named our company American Cast Iron Co. It's not because we're xenophobic, but because we thought it would be necessary to be hands on with this," Lips said.

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"We're celebrating American heroes here," added Cathy Lips.

Rather than try to compete on generic castings with offshore companies, the Lips have formulated a plan to produce products that must be licensed by a governing body, where there is an established barrier that requires extra effort for approval. "Plus, people are willing to pay a premium for an affinity-based item," George Lips said.

Lips has made the American Cast Iron Co. his main focus now, using his publishing and graphic arts background to promote and market his company, while Cathy Lips continues to do some freelance writing and editing. Two years ago, George Lips was cold calling metalcasters, trying to get a grasp on an industry he had no experience in. Now he's ready to base his career on it.

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"We really are into cast iron," he said. "We wrote a business plan surrounding that, and it has been really well-received."

For More Information

Visit www.americancastiron.com or www.ironeight. com for more information on the collectibles.

Shannon Wetzel, Senior Editor

Cal Ripken's Numbers:

     1   times named American League Rookie of the Year
     2   times named American League MVP
     2   times named MLB All-Star Game MVP
     2   Gold Glove awards
     8   Silver Slugger awards
    15   MLB All-Star Games at shortstop
    16   MLB All-Star Game starts
   431   home runs
 1,682   double plays
 1,695   runs
 2,632   consecutive games played
 3,881   games played
 3,184   hits
 5,168   total bases
 8,212   assists
98.53%   percentage of Hall of Fame votes

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