Cal Ripken, Jr.

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Cal Ripken, Jr.

Cal Ripken Jr. will first and foremost be the man who broke Lou Gehrig's Iron Man record consecutive game record of 2130 games. Though Ripken's 2,632 games will be almost impossible to eclipse, his other on-field accomplishments alone qualify him for the Hall of Fame.

During his 21 of his seasons in the majors with the Baltimore Orioles – mostly at shortstop and then at third base – Ripken was a 19-time All-Star. He played in a record 16 consecutive All-Star Games, taking the game's MVP award twice. His more than 36 million votes in the fan All Star voting is the all time leader.

Ripken was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1982 and the MVP the next year when Baltimore won its last World Series. He won a second MVP Award in 1991 on his way to such career numbers as 3,184 hits (14th), 603 doubles (13th), 431 home runs (35th), 1,695 RBI (20th), 3,001 games (8th), 11,551 at-bats (4th) and 127 sacrifice flies (2nd). Ripken was a two-time Gold Glove winner, an eight-time Silver Slugger and batted .338 in 28 postseason games.

During "The Streak," Ripken played nearly the whole game each time he took his position, averaging 99.8 percent of time on the field. He refused to make token appearances just to keep the streak alive, and several close calls almost ended the run – which included a record 8,243 straight innings of play from 1982 to 1987.

During 1993 game with Seattle at Camden Yards, Ripken badly twisted his right knee trying to break up brawl and protect Orioles pitcher Mike Mussina. Instead of making a token one-inning appearance the next game, trainers taped and braced the injury, and Ripken played every inning for the next two weeks.

Achievements and Honors

AL Rookie of the Year ('82)
Two time AL Most Valuable Player ('83, '91)
Two time Gold Glove recipient ('91, '92)
Two time All-Star MVP ('91, '01)
A world record 2,632 consecutive games and 19 All-Star Game selections
In 2001, Cal was honored when fans named his 2,131st consecutive game Major League Baseball's "Most Memorable Moment" in history through a program run by MLB.

Career Statistics

YEAR	TEAM	LG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA
1981	BAL	A	0	39	1	5	0	0	0	0	1	8	0	0	.128
1982	BAL	A	160	598	90	158	32	5	28	93	46	95	3	3	.264
1983	BAL	A	162	663	121	211	47	2	27	102	58	97	0	4	.318
1984	BAL	A	162	641	103	195	37	7	27	86	71	89	2	1	.304
1985	BAL	A	161	642	116	181	32	5	26	110	67	68	2	3	.282
1986	BAL	A	162	627	98	177	35	1	25	81	70	60	4	2	.282
1987	BAL	A	162	624	97	157	28	3	27	98	81	77	3	5	.252
1988	BAL	A	161	575	87	152	25	1	23	81	102	69	2	2	.264
1989	BAL	A	162	646	80	166	30	0	21	93	57	72	3	2	.257
1990	BAL	A	161	600	78	150	28	4	21	84	82	66	3	1	.250
1991	BAL	A	162	650	99	210	46	5	34	114	53	46	6	1	.323
1992	BAL	A	162	637	73	160	29	1	14	72	64	50	4	3	.251
1993	BAL	A	162	641	87	165	26	3	24	90	65	58	1	4	.257
1994	BAL	A	112	444	71	140	19	3	13	75	32	41	1	0	.315
1995	BAL	A	144	550	71	144	33	2	17	88	52	59	0	1	.262
1996	BAL	A	163	640	94	178	40	1	26	102	59	78	1	2	.278
1997	BAL	A	162	615	79	166	30	0	17	84	56	73	1	0	.270
1998	BAL	A	161	601	65	163	27	1	14	61	51	68	0	2	.271
1999	BAL	A	86	332	51	113	27	0	18	57	13	31	0	1	.340
2000	BAL	A	83	309	43	79	16	0	15	56	23	37	0	0	.256
2001	BAL	A	128	477	43	114	16	0	14	68	26	63	0	2	.239
			G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA
21 Seasons			3001	11551	1647	3184	603	44	431	1695	1129	1305	36	39	.276