After the opening of Ripken Baseball?s Myrtle Beach Complex, Cal Ripken Jr. sat down to talk baseball with The Examiner.
Q: What is the possibility of ownership on the Major League level, there were rumors about the Nationals, would you be interested in owning a major league team?
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A: When people think of the term owning they tend to think like I did, that you have the ability to take your checkbook out and write a check for a team. In no way am I in a position to do any of that. I did pretty well in baseball, but not nearly that well. As you get more into business you start to realize that there is a different value of ownership groups that come together, my value to an ownership group would be to the baseball side, maybe on some of the business side, based on what I have learned and what I know. On the promotional side, there could be many values to an ownership group that comes along, if there was an opportunity, if the Orioles were for sale, I certainly would be interested in being part of that group.
Q: Would you consider buying a team other than the Orioles?
A: It would have to be the right opportunity, all the rumors surrounding D.C., again were just rumors. I was approached by different groups at the early stages thinking that if I aligned with them, they would have a better chance of getting the team. I never was interested in going about it that way, if you have an opportunity and you do get the team, and you are want to talk I am always open to talk. So far that has not materialized more than rumors and inquiries, I would not worry about that. If the right opportunity came along I certainly would look at it and you would evaluate it for what it is.
Q: Being a product of the Orioles system, how is it different now?
A: That evaluation is difficult. The Oriole organization has evolved, and it seems like they are searching to find themselves right now. There have been many different rebuilding processes and they haven?t put it all together to get a winning year.
The hope is that some of the younger players that they are bringing along will turn into, as I said before, pitching. Somebody you can turn into a Tim Hudson, a Barry Zito and a Mark Mulder. You find young guys like that at the same time, then you have got a chance.
It seems like the Orioles are in a state of change, and you keep your fingers crossed that the plan that they are working will work in the right way and they?ll produce a consistent chance to win every year.
When I came up we were a winning team, we went through some rebuilding, we turned back to a winning team for a period of time and then went into rebuilding. I certainly would like to have been more like the Atlanta Braves when you win 15 division titles. They have put together a really strong organization and there is a lot of stability there.
Q: Having won so early in your career, winning the World Series in 1983, looking back, do you appreciate that ring that much more?
A: When [I] went to the big leagues, we went to the last day of the season to decide the division title against Milwaukee in one of the most exciting series I have ever played in. The next year you win the World Series and you think it is going to be that way every year. As a young person you take that for granted. I thought there would be more opportunities, the 96 and 97 years were very fulfilling years.
Going through the ups and downs, feeling both sides of it, feeling the 0-21 and also feeling the glory and fulfillment of winning, makes you understand the differences in the two, so you learn to appreciate how special it is and how hard it is to get back to the World Series.
Q: The low point was the 1988 season, that was the year of the 0-21, your dad gets fired six games into the season. What was your mindset like at that point?
A: That is really the only time when I was just forced to think I would have been a free agent at the end of the year, and earned the right to make a decision if I wanted to continue along the path or not.
If I had to make that decision in the first two or three months, I would have chose another destination. The more I started thinking about it, I valued the stability of being home.
I valued the places I lived, this is where I wanted to raise my family.
I figured I could survive a rebuilding process, not knowing what is on the other end. The Orioles said they wanted to rebuild around me and they gave the commitment back in the form of a no-trade clause, so it all worked out.
Fortunately enough, a lot of people look back and say, ?You played for the team 21 years.? But it wasn?t as easy as just showing up and playing, there were moments of decision, that being one of them.
Q: Do you think that Major League Baseball has a drug problem?
A: I think it is obvious that there is a problem. And maybe there is a bigger problem than we all realize. I think that first there is a certain shock of what has transpired, I know it has been shocking to me.
I am smart enough to realize that the whole story is not out yet, it isn?t told.
But, the way I look at it is there is a policy in place, there is a drug program in place that has been signed off by the players association and MLB.
I look at it as a great effort towards maintaining the integrity of the game. Again, that is what the job of the commissioner is and obviously Don Fehr, representing the players, bears some of that
responsibility.
It is a very resilient game. As long as the direction that is being taken now to help rid the game [of drugs] and maintain the integrity of the game, the game will survive. We just have to endure the rest of this black cloud that is hanging over baseball and get to the timewhen it is sunny out.
Q: There has been talk about the amphetamines. Did you ever see any of that in the club house? What do you tell kids who ask you about those types of situations?
A: I might be one of the more naïve people when it comes to that. I am thankful that I came into an Oriole organization that from the outside people could look at as “goody-two-shoes.” I came in with Scotty McGregor, Flanny (Mike Flanagan), Eddie [Murray], and all those guys.
There was a voluntary drug program that the Orioles adopted. I was very thankful that I came into a system that was pretty goody-two-shoes.
I don?t know what other team?s situations are, but I would imagine some teams had issues where young players came in and they walked right into some influences that weren?t good. I don?t know that for a fact, that is just what I feel.
Q: The Hall of Fame vote is coming up. Is it something you have thought about?
A: I try not to think about it. I am eligible and people ask me and remind me about it all the time. They say ?How long you been out,? and I say, my simple answer is, ?I am eligible for the next vote.?
I keep my fingers crossed and hope everything works out. Certainly the Hall of Fame is one of the highest honors you can have. It would be a wonderful thing, no doubt about it. I always thought, you don?t want to get ahead of yourself, you don?t want to look ahead, that?s things that are out of your control.
That is my way of dealing with it, by putting it out of my mind and not really thinking about it a whole lot, very similar when everybody made a big issue of the consecutive game streak.
I didn?t get it. All I did was want to come play every day and it was a collection of these games. I didn?t want to learn about Lou Gerhig, I did not want to be obsessed with the streak, I really did not want to talk about the streak, as the streak. It was like, here is another game, and this is what I do.
