Iron clan

Sporting News, The, Dec 18, 1995 by Steve Marantz

Summer's climactic two days, September 5 and 6, seen through Cal Ripken's eyes, were a "haze." The day he tied Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played, and the day he broke it, are vaguely remembered. that's why Ripken is sure it must have been a special time.

"I witnessed my two children being born exactly the same way," Ripken says. "My wedding was like that. September 5 and 6 have a common link with those things. I remember thinking it didn't seem like it was really real. Like something else was going on.

"You get certain moments in life so positive and good to you individually that they are remembered with a haze around them."

Happiness tends to filter out harsh light and soften jagged edges. For baseball, Ripken's two days were a lovefest that diffused bitterness from last winter's strike. Eighty percent of success, Woody Allen has suggested, is just showing up. Well, for 14 years Ripken has shown up for a game he fell in love with long ago, when the game was at one with itself. He showed up - and how! - last summer when the national pastime needed him most. Ripken was a bedrock of strength, graceful and dignified, in the best tradition of American statesmen.

For his dependability, excellence and timing, THE SPORTING News names Ripken as its Sportsman of the Year. To honor the Orioles shortstop, we enlist the thoughts of four people he singled out in his September 6 speech, after his 2,131st consecutive game. Ripken identified his father, Cal Sr.; mother, Violet; former teammate Eddie Murray; and wife, Kelly, as being instrumental in his success.

In telephone interviews with THE SPORTING NEWS, all four turned the tables on Ripken, whose record is 2,153 and running.

"...Let me start by thanking my dad. He inspired me with his commitment to the Oriole tradition and made me understand the importance of it. He not only taught me the fundamentals of baseball, but also he taught me to Play it the light way, and to play it the Oriole way. From the very beginning, my dad let me know how important it was to be there for your team and to be counted on by your teammates."

Cal Ripken Sr. is, purely and simply, the man who taught Cal Ripken Jr. how to play baseball. So he accepts his son's praise with a father's pride and a teacher's quiet pleasure in the success of a student. Yes as a teacher, he is realistic enough to know that what he taught is far less than what his son knows.

"It's gratifying when I get the credit," Cal Sr. says, but he's the guy who's gone out and done these things. Maybe in some small way my wife and I both gave him an approach. But he's the guy who worked at it. I always talked to him about doing something the right way. He's the guy who had his priorities in the right order."

Cal Sr., a white-haired man of craggy face and stoic disposition, is a teacher by instinct. He was the first to hit groundballs to his oldest son, Cal. He showed him how to swing properly and slide. Respect the game's fundamentals, he taught his son, and the game will respect you. Respect your body and your body will respect you. Treat people as well as you treat yourself and the game.

"I was always one to stress fundamentals, sports or anything," Cal Sr. says. "There's a basic way to do things, a fundamental way to do things. You have to know the proper way to go about it before you can do it properly. As I tell kids at my baseball school, perfect practice makes perfect.'

A career minor league catcher, Cal Sr. managed in the Orioles farm system from 1961 through "74. Cal Jr. grew up around his father's minor league teams, gaining, perhaps, a humility and perspective lacking in other stars of cloistered background. Cal Sr. became an Orioles coach in 1976 and was coaching in 1982 when Cal Jr. broke in. In 1986, the father replaced Earl Weaver as manager, and was fired six games into the 1988 season, giving way to Frank Robinson during a losing streak that stretched to an improbable 21 games.

Fortunately, by that time the elder Ripken had built a reputation as a teacher of young players. Today, a brochure promoting his baseball school in Emmitsburg, Md., promises that youngsters will learn to 'Play Baseball the Ripken Way.'

Cal Sr. was rehired as an Orioles coach in 1989 and fired again in 1992. His visit to Camden Yards on September 6 was his first since being fired. Bad feelings would have been natural, but Senior pushed them aside and concentrated on junior's moment. Generally an unemotional man, Cal Sr. says he was surprised at the magnitude of his emotions.

"I had watched the games on TV, but to be down at the stadium and see everything and hear everything, it was just unbelievable," Cal Sr. recalls. "I know it was a huge event, but when you are involved in the stadium, it was a whole lot larger than huge. I don't know what word there is to describe that. Just amazing. I've been on the field in the World Series, and I've seen a lot of things in baseball, but I've never seen anything to compare with what took place down there. It made the World Series look like the exhibition games you play in spring training."