As Cal Ripken Jr. took a deep breath on the historic night of Sept. 6, 1995, he looked up to a skybox where his family sat. He raised his arm to salute his father, and the emotion on his face was understood by all.
Ripken was giving thanks, in a moment of unparalleled achievement, to his father, former Orioles? manager and coach Cal Ripken Sr.
“My dad instilled the characteristics in me that helped me become a great baseball player,” Ripken Jr. said of his late father earlier this week before learning Tuesday that he will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in July.
The work ethic instilled in Ripken Jr. was apparent from the first day he stepped on the diamond at Aberdeen High.
“When Calvin came to me as a freshman, he had all of the tools, all of the hands and the footwork and those kind of things,” said Don Morrison, who coached the Eagles during Ripken?s freshman through junior seasons. “There was not a whole lot that I, as a former high school and college player, could have taught him.”
Many of Junior?s teammates were also touched by Senior?s influence as a coach.
“He brought Billy and Cal up the right way,” said former Oriole Chris Hoiles, who, like Senior, was a catcher. “He taught the game the right way. And he didn?t stop with those two. Everyone he came in contact with, he wanted to make sure they played the game the right way.”
Ripken Sr. passed away on March 25, 1999. He saw his son help lead the Orioles to the 1983 World Series while winning the American League MVP award that year. He saw his son break Lou Gehrig?s record for consecutive games played on that cool, clear night in Sept. 1995.
And, like that September night, the Iron Man thanked his dad again Tuesday, when it was announced his achievements will be memorialized in Cooperstown, N.Y.
