Cal Ripken---1984
Scout Tales..... Cal Ripkin, Jr.
Sitting around a press dining room
table the other evening, several
scouts were talking about Cal
Ripken, Jr. as a high school player.
Interestingly, I had recently come
across this 1984 All-Star card for Cal.
The back of the card notes that Cal
"pitched and played shortstop at
Aberdeen High School. Was 7-2 with
0.70 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 60
innings as a senior while batting .492
with 29 RBI's in 20 games. Pitched a
2-hitter and fanned 17 to win the
1978 Maryland Class A Title."
The Ironman a pitcher... hmmm.
Actually, the talk around the table
was that the area scouts covering
Maryland liked Ripken with his upper
80s fastball more as a pitcher. One
NL scout, who was a part-time scout
back in the east that Spring said, "If
you were an area scout or
cross-checker, you went to see Cal
pitch. Us part-timers were the only
ones at the games that he played
shortstop."
Apparently it wasn't until Cal, Sr.
stepped in to tell the scouts that Cal
and the family thought his future was
best served as an infielder, that clubs
began to hone in on the wiry middle
infielder.
The younger Cal would be selected
by his father's club in the second
round of the '78 Draft. A scant three
years later Ripken was in the Big
Leagues wearing an Orioles uniform.
And in 1982 he embarked on his
record-setting consecutive game
streak that brought him a date with
the Baseball Hall of Fame and a
place in Baseball History.
However, one has to wonder how it
would have turned out for Cal had he
taken his place on the mound in
professional ball, instead of on the
infield skin...............
(8/12/08)
Sitting around a press dining room
table the other evening, several
scouts were talking about Cal
Ripken, Jr. as a high school player.
Interestingly, I had recently come
across this 1984 All-Star card for Cal.
The back of the card notes that Cal
"pitched and played shortstop at
Aberdeen High School. Was 7-2 with
0.70 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 60
innings as a senior while batting .492
with 29 RBI's in 20 games. Pitched a
2-hitter and fanned 17 to win the
1978 Maryland Class A Title."
The Ironman a pitcher... hmmm.
Actually, the talk around the table
was that the area scouts covering
Maryland liked Ripken with his upper
80s fastball more as a pitcher. One
NL scout, who was a part-time scout
back in the east that Spring said, "If
you were an area scout or
cross-checker, you went to see Cal
pitch. Us part-timers were the only
ones at the games that he played
shortstop."
Apparently it wasn't until Cal, Sr.
stepped in to tell the scouts that Cal
and the family thought his future was
best served as an infielder, that clubs
began to hone in on the wiry middle
infielder.
The younger Cal would be selected
by his father's club in the second
round of the '78 Draft. A scant three
years later Ripken was in the Big
Leagues wearing an Orioles uniform.
And in 1982 he embarked on his
record-setting consecutive game
streak that brought him a date with
the Baseball Hall of Fame and a
place in Baseball History.
However, one has to wonder how it
would have turned out for Cal had he
taken his place on the mound in
professional ball, instead of on the
infield skin...............
(8/12/08)
