Ripken retires gracefully
Associated Press
BALTIMORE — In his final game in the major leagues, Cal Ripken didn't hit a dramatic home run. He didn't even get a hit.
It hardly mattered.
Ripken's career wasn't about clutch hits or home runs, even though he had plenty of both. The Baltimore Orioles' star attained worldwide fame because he showed up every day to play, whether he was hurt or mired in a miserable slump.
That is why he will forever be known as the Iron Man.
So, even though his 0-for-3 performance last night in the Orioles' 5-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox put a 2-for-48 finish on his Hall of Fame career, Ripken nevertheless drew more cheers than a former president, baseball's commissioner and several players already in the Hall of Fame.
Bill Clinton, major league commissioner Bud Selig and former Oriole greats Jim Palmer, Frank Robinson and Earl Weaver were among the big names on hand for the game, which had absolutely no impact on the standings.
"At this challenging time for our country, when we're more united than we've been in decades across the lines that usually divide us," Clinton said, "Cal Ripken is a model for the game of baseball. Not only for his team, but most important to me, he is the kind of man every father would like his son to grow up to be."
After he unlaced his spikes and peeled off his dirt-stained uniform for the last time, Ripken, 41, left the game he loves without regret.
Ripken did everything he set out to accomplish, and then some. He kept himself in tiptop shape, played through injuries and milked the most out of his body from the day he arrived in the major leagues in 1981.
"Tonight we close a chapter of this dream, my playing career," he told the crowd of 48,807 after the game. "But I have other dreams. You know, I might have some white hair on top of this head — well, maybe on the sides of this head — but I'm really not that old. My dreams for the future include pursuing my passion for baseball. Hopefully, I will be able to harvest what I've learned."
Since he announced in June that he would retire after this season, Ripken never had a second thought.
Fans asked him to change his mind. Ripken says no way.
"It's not sad. I'm not sad that I'm leaving by any means," Ripken said. "I've had a lot of people cry in front of me, fans who would say, 'Please don't go. One more year. It's not going to be the same without you.'
"I find myself consoling them. I say, 'It's going to be all right.' "
Ripken was one of a kind. He had an amazing streak of playing in 2,632 consecutive games from 1982 to 1998. He will be eligible for Hall of Fame induction in 2007.
