Cal Ripken Sr. joined the Orioles? major league coaching staff in 1976. Despite the fact that he?d been associated with the franchise for years ? as a minor league catcher and later a coach and manager in the system ? it was his first big league assignment.
It wasn?t too long before Cal Sr. started to bring Cal Jr. to Memorial Stadium, and for many of us, it was our first look at the future Hall of Famer in orange and black. Junior would borrow one of Senior?s uniforms ? No. 47 at the time ? and work out. As a teenager, Cal Jr. could fit into his dad?s jersey, but he required a larger cap to fit a pretty significant head of hair into.
Anyway, I was introduced to Junior by Mike Zolotorow, who assisted equipment manager Clay Reid in the Orioles? clubhouse. The introduction came after Junior had completed his workout and had put his street clothes back on. There was a Pac-Man (it might?ve been a Ms. Pac-Man) video game in the player?s family lounge, and that?s where Junior was headed.
Mike Z asked me if I had any spare quarters I could “loan” the kid, and I came up with a few. It was a scenario that repeated itself a couple of other times ? not anything significant, maybe 9 or 10 quarters over the course of many months. So I?ll take a modicum of credit for that spectacular hand-eye coordination.
There was a critically acclaimed movie in 1981 called “My Dinner with Andre.” That same year, I took “My Bus Ride with Junior.” There wasn?t nearly as much dialogue as the movie, but at spring training that year, the Orioles were scheduled to play the Kansas City Royals in Fort Myers, requiring a long bus ride ? players in uniform ? across Alligator Alley in Florida. By pure chance, I ended up sitting across the aisle from Junior.
A few minutes into the ride, he asked if he could borrow my notebook and a pen. I complied, and for the rest of the ride I watched him doodle, sketching pictures of a variety of subjects, none of which were baseball-related. In the back of my mind, I thought, “Gee, I hope he leaves those drawings in the book in case he ever gets famous.” But shortly before arriving in Fort Myers, he tore the pages from the book, shoved them in his pocket, and gave me my stuff back, darn it. I?d compare his art skills to Toulouse-Lautrec, but I suspect he?d object to that.
Watching Cal?s last 30 years have been kind of a blur, from cadging quarters to the streak to today?s call to baseball immortality at the Hall of Fame. It?s funny ? he?s changed so much, but when I look in the mirror, I?m exactly the same. Of course, my personal philosophy has been to find a haircut you like when you?re 16 and stick with it the rest of your life. Junior may have had similar intentions, but genetics got in the way.
Though I think we?d all gladly swap some follicles for that kind of talent on the field.
Phil Wood has covered baseball in the Washington/Baltimore market for more than 30 years. You can reach him at [email protected].
