Word: cal
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...time Cal Sr. was given the Orioles' Double-A team in Asheville, North Carolina, in 1972, the kids were old enough to help out--Ellie as the scoreboard keeper, Junior as the bat boy, Fred as a clubhouse attendant and Billy as the ball boy. "I think that's where I first picked up my work ethic," says Cal Jr. "My dad did everything. He was not only the manager but also the pitching coach, the batting coach, the batting-practice pitcher, the ground keeper. And when he wasn't on the field, he was talking baseball." Cal Sr., whose...
...Cal Sr. finally made the majors in 1976 as one of Weaver's coaches. And in 1978 the Orioles made the star shortstop and pitcher for Aberdeen High School, Cal Jr., their fourth pick in the draft. His talent was so obvious that nepotism was never an issue. In 1982 the Orioles traded third-baseman DeCinces to the California Angels to make room for the kid he once carried to safety. Ripken missed only two games in his Rookie of the Year season, becoming the Orioles' shortstop on a permanent basis on July 1. In '83 Ripken was named...
After '83, though, the Orioles went through a rough period. Cal Sr. was given the club to manage in '87, and in July of that season, his youngest son Billy became the Orioles' regular second baseman, making Cal Sr. the first major league manager to have two sons on his team at the same time. But not even that tender story line could save the O's, or Cal Sr.'s job. When the team lost the first six games of the '88 season, he was fired, although Billy remained Cal Jr.'s double-play partner until...
...every play that's not a strikeout.) And when the 3-hr. 16-min. 8-5 defeat was over, Ripken didn't just dress and go home. He went back out onto the field for one of his postgame autograph sessions, signing for and kibitzing with 2,000 fans. "Cal Ripken personifies everything that is right with baseball," said Bob Seal, 33, an engineer for the Norfolk Southern Railroad who came up to the game from Chattanooga, Tennessee...
Actually, Ripken's easy way with the fans had something to do with the way he met his wife. Kelly Geer's mother chatted him up at a restaurant signing one night in 1983, telling him about her eligible daughter, and Cal signed the ball to Kelly, "If you look like your mother, I'm sorry I missed you. Cal Ripken." As Kelly recalls, "My reaction was, 'Who's Cal Ripken?' But a couple of months later, I was in a restaurant where he was signing, and when I thanked him for being so nice to my mom, he said...