Cal Ripken Jr.

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0:32One of the greatest baseball players ever is Cal Ripken. He set a record for playing in 2 ,632 consecutive games over 17 years. He was an all-star 19 times, a member of the Hall of Fame, twice most valuable player in the American League, and also once a World Series champion. I had a chance to sit down with Cal Ripken recently to talk about his current life working for and with the Baltimore Orioles, a team that he made very famous. So it was said in baseball that the unbreakable record was Lou Gehrig's record of playing in 2 ,130 games consecutively. Nobody thought that could ever be broken. You broke it.

1:11You played in 2 ,632 games consecutively over 17 years. Why did you do that? I mean, did you ever think if maybe taking a day off would be a good thing? So you're not going to ask me what my secret was, right? Well, I'll get to that. I don't know if I have one. I mean, I love the game a lot. Your everyday player was defined in those years as playing every game. And it was an honor to be thought of and counted on each and every day by your teammates. So I had my dad, who was also a coach when I first came in, probably for the first 11 or 12 years of my career. And I think the real reason that I played is that I couldn't come into a ballpark and say, you have turf toe, where you stubbed your toe and say, okay, I might need to miss a game or two.

2:00I couldn't face my dad, you know, let alone the manager of the team. Well, like, I've been, you know, working for many years, and I have not done 17 years consecutively going in every day. You know, you have a headache someday, you don't feel good. You never had a headache, no cold, nothing happened. Yes, all of those things happen. But you play through it. You learn to play through different things, and you find out really quickly that I can still compete. I still can play even though I might be less than 100%. Baseball was called the national pastime for a long time, but obviously other sports have taken a lot of attention away from baseball, basketball and football, for example.

2:39Do you still feel that Americans have a certain passion for baseball that is similar to what they had 20, 30, 40 years ago, or do you think it's really changed a lot? I think there's a deep love for baseball still in the country, I see that the Ripken baseball was a kids' business that we developed, experiential when you play tournaments and we teach and those sorts of things. And you can witness it right in front of you, that kids, 8 to 12-year-olds, feel the same way about baseball that we did. I think what's happened in sports overall is that there's specialization that happens earlier in the sports.

3:12And so you're not playing baseball, basketball, and football all that time. You're specializing really early on. And so there's a lot less kids, I think, that are playing baseball. But the ones that are playing are actually playing more of it because they play spring, summer, and fall. Speaking of that, lots of pitchers these days have elbow problems. They now get surgery called Tommy John surgery. And players have to take a year and a half before they're really going to play again. Why are there so many pitchers that seem to have this problem now, and they didn't have as many of those problems when you were playing?

3:45Is it because they're playing so young and they're throwing so many different kind of pitches that really hurt the elbow and the arm? Well, I think some of that is true because Tommy John surgery has come down even to like high school and sometimes kids younger than that. And I think some parents feel like we'll just keep throwing and if it breaks or whatever else, we can always fix it and you'll come back throwing harder than you did before. I think that's the wrong way to look at it. But I think in the big leagues, with all the analytics that go around, I think pitchers are chasing velocity more.

4:15So there's more training to get your arm stronger, to throw the ball harder, but they're chasing movement. So there's two things that happen. You throw a fastball, you get behind the baseball, but then when you try to make it move with the same power, you're torquing your elbow or your wrist right at the end to try to make it move. And then all this pressure goes right here. And I think a lot of chasing speed and chasing movement, the combination of those two is causing it. When a golfer is lining up a putt on a tournament, everybody has to be quiet. Nobody's throwing anything at his head. Why does he need to have so much quiet, but you're not allowed to talk or say anything when you're putting for five inches?

4:59But if somebody's throwing a ball at your head 100 miles an hour, they can scream and yell. Why is it? Doesn't it seem that's ass backwards? Yes. Yes. It is interesting, though. When you play in front of a packed house, it's just noise. You know, it's not you don't hear the individual things. I mean in here in New York, I think the fans felt that they were part of the game And so they were trying to get inside your head They were screaming things out at you try to play a little mind game with and and if you beat them and you did really well You know it almost go out Cal see you tomorrow, you know, it was all part of it The Boston fans were a little different is that they were they were more personal But if you beat them or whatever else they'd hold against you for your whole life You can challenge a call now and they go up to New York and they watch it on video and they make a decision there You think that's good or bad?

5:45I like it, yeah. I mean, because one play could turn the whole outcome of the game. And they have the technology to do it now. And I think what you're going to see in the next couple years is some form of the robotic strike zone. You know, whether they're testing it in the minor leagues on a challenge system or, like, every third game, they just have something in the ear of the umpire and the robot or whatever calls the whole game based on when the ball's on the plate. He just tells the guy what to do. And so they're testing those things out. And I think the challenge system might be good because a key pitch in the eighth inning with the bases loaded, and it's called a ball or a strike, the ball turns it in favor of the team that's got the bases loaded.

6:27The strike kind of gets them out of it. Professional athletes are idealized. I mean, it's hard to believe this, but they're liked more than politicians, right? So athletes are really well-liked and admired and so forth. But then when you finish your career, you have a whole different life. So you retired at what age? 41? 41, yeah. You played 20 years, 22 years. 21. 21 years in the major leagues. And you retired at an age that, you know, is old for a professional athlete, but young for somebody in private equity or something like that. So when you retired at that age, did you say, what am I going to do the rest of my life?

7:01And what did you decide to do for the remaining 10, next 20 years of your life? What did you do? So if you save your money pretty well, then you have choices. You know, and you could decide to learn how to play golf and like a lot of people do and and kind of retire early. Are you a golfer? I play a little bit, but no. I could be pretty good. I think I have a miniature golf. That's what I do. So I looked at it as, you know, you kind of get bored. How can you do that? I look at it as a second chance for a career opportunity. And so you look, I wanted to learn business and we bought minor league teams.

7:38and so you could it was a comfortable business model that you can kind of learn business that way and and that was kind of fun it the at first it felt like I gave I spotted everybody else 20 years ahead of me I'm 41 and but uh but I seem like I'm 21 you know in the business world you come out and then you learn that a lot of the things you learned along the way in baseball can apply to your I mean your worth get work ethic uh how you go about doing things your preparation and all that kind of stuff. That all applies to what you're doing now. So now that you're an owner of the Baltimore Orioles, how do you feel about these high-priced contracts that players are getting?

8:15You used to be a player who probably wanted higher-priced contracts. Now you're an owner. How do you look at that? Differently? Slightly. I try to think of what are the other intangible values that you can offer a player besides the bottom-line dollars, because the bottom-line dollars are so big now, whatever else that you can make a case you're saying well how much but I mean it's about ego and it's about breaking the bank and it's about agents wanting to continue to make it go up for other people that come through but if you take my situation was I wanted to play in one place I wanted to have control of playing in one place so I think if we get to a point where we're trying to convince one of our players to stay you know you want to try to tell him all the values that are associated with you know Derek Jeter playing his whole career in in a pinstripe uniform, me playing my whole career in the Orioles, and what's that mean for you in the bigger picture?

9:08And hopefully they'll value some of that, but it's going to be a competitive landscape where we're going to have to pay some salaries. And Baltimore is a smaller city compared to some of the New York teams or Los Angeles. Is that a big problem when you're in a smaller city in Major League Baseball? I think overall I never liked the idea because you were a small market team you couldn't compete because I think competition is in your knowledge. You know, you're drafting, you get to draft, you get to sign players, you get to develop players. You know, that's not all free agency that's happening. But if you're a big market team and you make a mistake in judgment on a player, you can throw more money at your mistakes.

9:49When you're a smaller market team, you have to be better at your baseball decisions. How can you grow your business from idea to industry leader? Bring your vision to life with smart business buying tools and technology from Amazon Business. From fast, free shipping to in-depth buying insights and automated purchase approvals, they deliver everything you need to achieve your goals. It's not easy to stand out from the crowd. Simplify how you stock up to get ahead. Go to amazonbusiness.com for support. So I played the Little League All-Star shortstop when I was eight and nine, and I didn't know whether I was going to get to the major leagues or not.

10:27When did you realize you were going to be better than someone like me? Did you realize that you were a little leaguer? When you were a little leaguer, did you really realize you were going to be really good enough to play in the major leagues? I knew pretty quickly. I grew up in and around baseball. My dad was the manager of the minor leagues for the Orioles in the first 14 years of my life. So I went to work with my dad, you know, as early as eight or nine. He put me in a uniform. I was the bat boy. I shagged in the outfield. I had a chance to ask all the players how they caught the fly ball, how they swung the bat.

11:00So I had all these teachers in front of me. But I had the skill that was pretty obvious early on. OK, so you played in high school. I assume you did very well in high school? Yes. OK. So you get drafted by the Orioles. And at what point when you're in the minor leagues, when all the players played in the minor leagues for a while, did you realize you weren't just going to be an average player, you were really going to be a super player? or did you not realize that in the beginning? No, I was 17. I was a second-round draft pick by the Orioles. I turned 18 at the end of the summer, and so my birthday is August 24th, so I was playing a couple months before my 18th birthday.

11:37And when I first went away to play pro ball, you were a pretty big fish in a small pond in high school. You thought you were pretty good. And then you go, and all of a sudden you're part of a team, and you look around, and no longer, you're not the big fish anymore. There was one shortstop by the name of Bob Bonner that came out of Texas A &M. He was like a six-round pick for us that year. And I was taking ground balls and doing stuff with him, and he clearly was light years ahead of me. He had a better arm. He could field the ball better. He was quicker on the transfer. And I kept looking at him going, I'm never going to play.

12:08You know, this guy is too good. I'm not that good. And they moved him immediately to double A, which opened up the spot for me. And then I got my feet on the ground. I started playing pretty well and started to hit a couple home runs in my next year. And then I got to double A and then I had a breakout season. And in two years, I caught Bob Bonner and passed him to the big leagues. So he stayed the same and I got better. What year did he get into the Hall of Fame? I think he's a minister in Africa right now. So speaking of the Hall of Fame, you were elected with 98.5 % of the vote. Have you ever figured out who that person was that didn't vote for you?

12:49I mean, who is this person waiting for? I've hunted all five of them down. I think in my particular year, I think Mariano Rivera just went in at 100%, right? The only one. Of the vote. And in my particular year, there was a protest vote where five people didn't turn in a ballot. In that particular year, as a protest to the steroid era. But they said, well, and so they counted against you. Did anybody ever come to you and say, look, you're really good, but you could be even better if you take some of these drugs? They didn't try that? No, no. And looking back on it, you could probably see signs in hindsight that players that might have used.

13:29But when you're playing, if you're not in this secret society, you don't know. And I didn't know. So some players, they were like 180 pounds, and then later they're 250 pounds. You didn't suspect maybe they were doing something unusual? Yes. You're 6 '4", and traditionally shortstops were more my height. And when you came along, people didn't want people like me to be shortstops anymore. So did you change the game of baseball by saying shortstops should be big and better hitters, or is it going back to the old mode of speaking fast and good baseball stealers but not great hitters? I mean, a lot of the shortstops, Derek Jeter being one of them, gives me credit for my success at the position as a bigger shortstop that gave them opportunities that maybe otherwise they wouldn't have had.

14:20But I kind of think, Derek, you would have carved out your own path. But I did move from third to short. I signed, I was 6 '2", 180 when I came out of high school. And then I had a late growth spurt, almost grew three inches, and I put on, you know, five to eight pounds a year. By the time I got to the big leagues, I was almost 6 '5", 220. And they had put me at third base, but then Earl Weaver had this vision that I could play shortstop and we'd be a better team if I went over to shortstop. So he, one day, just put me there. And my success at the position as a bigger guy maybe is like when I'm a basketball fan.

15:01I wish I could have been a basketball player. But I remember Magic Johnson changing the thought of a point guard at 6 '9". He's 6 '9", and all of a sudden the advantages he had of his size, I think people started to understand that a bigger guy could play shortstop in second base. And today they're some of the more celebrated positions. On that contract, I think your highest compensation level was$6 million a year. $6 million a year. That's a good compensation level in those days for sure. And today for the average person, that's a great income. But today, there are some players who are making$200,$300,$400 million over a period.

15:37You've won$700 million. Do you ever think maybe you should have waited a little bit longer to play in the major leagues? Do you ever regret the fact that some people are making$700 million, and they're not likely to be as good as you? Every day I think that, yes. No, it is really interesting is that I had a really good job. You know, I was a baseball player, and you got paid for it. And in the compensation, I was one of the early ones that broke a million a year. and then I got to$2 million a year. And then towards the end, I was at$6 million, but then it started going crazy. And I look at it, and I remember all the old players that said, I wish that I would have played in that era.

16:18But I think the game evolves, the business of the... It used to be, in baseball, I think, at least I looked at myself as a sportsman. Maybe the value of the entertainment was in the collective where you're playing well as a team and you win, and that's cool. Then all of a sudden it seemed to step over to, I think a lot of players might think that they're entertainers now. So it's a little bit more than what you do on the field. It's what maybe your commercials, things you do off the field. I think they see themselves differently. Do you think that's good to have the games now maybe two hours, 20 minutes, or something like that?

16:52Is that making it better for the fans, or are they saying, I want more baseball and I want the game to last longer? Well, it's better, and I think what they did is they cut out the dead time. At the end of my career, the walk-up music started to become popular. The young players kind of liked it, and they would tell them what to do. And sometimes they'd be in the on-deck circle, and they hadn't played the song yet. And so they'd wait and look upstairs like this until they played the song, and then they'd make their entrance to the ballpark. The shot clock, or the pitch clock that they have now, allows the umpire to give them an enforceable tool to shape the behavior.

17:25There was always a rule that the pitcher had to throw it within 20 seconds of each pitch. But that got away from everybody. And now it's shaped the behavior, and I think the game moves. When you were playing, it was sometimes said that pitchers might put substances on the baseball, or it was called a spitter. Did you ever see that? Gaylord Perry was the most famous of all spitballers. He actually wrote a book called Me and the Spitter. So the first time I face him, the ball comes in, it sinks a little bit, and then I hit a ground ball to shortstop, I make another out, and I'm thinking, if that's a spitter, that's nothing special.

17:58But then I came up with the bases loaded my third time up, and he threw me three pitches that dropped about this far and struck me out, you know, whatever else, and then kind of walked off and shook his head at me like, that's a spitter. I have a grandson who's four years old. If he wanted to be a major league baseball player, what's the best advice you would give to a young person? He means a little young for advice maybe, but what does a six - or eight-year-old or ten-year-old who aspires to be a baseball player, what should they do? Well, I think the worst thing you could do is put too much pressure on your kid.

18:29You know, like if you want it for him as opposed to him wanting it. You know, I think he was... Your father didn't put pressure on you? He was a professional coach. He didn't? I mean, matter of fact, I could tell you that because my dad was in professional baseball, he only saw two of my games between the age of 8 and 18 before I got drafted. Parts of two. Because he had... He didn't give you tips or anything or tell you to do this or that? No, I mean, he was a great instructor. I witnessed him instructing other people in the minor leagues, so I learned through his instruction and everybody else.

18:59But he never stood over me and said, you've got to play baseball. Now, when you're a professional baseball player or a former professional baseball player, as famous as you are, people come up and all the time they want autographs, selfies, and they say, I hate to bother you, but can I bother you with a selfie or an autograph request? What do you say? You say I'm too busy or you just do it? Or how do you deal with all that? And when you go to a hotel and you're a major league baseball player, or people have all these little kids who are trying to get autographs. How do you deal with all that? When you get old, they don't do it so much anymore.

19:32No, I'm thankful that I still can't believe that I get recognized as readily as I do. And to me, you always keep in mind, and sometimes someone approaching you, they're all nervous, and they lose their mind, and they say, you know, you're my biggest fan, and I go, I am? But they lose it. But then you have to keep in mind that it's meaningful to them. And so at that moment, by signing your name for a little kid and their eyeballs get all, and they run back to their mom or whatever else and say, look what I got. You help that happen. So if you remember what happens afterwards, you focus on, you know, and you just manage it.

20:13You just get through it. And what was it like the day that you broke the record of Lou Gehrig. There was enormous fan outpouring. Everybody's calling you. You're nationwide TV. And you're running around the stadium and so forth. Was that like the highlight of your life professionally? I would say there's two moments. I answer that question in two parts. The best feeling I ever had on the baseball field was catching the last out-of-the-world series 42 years ago. 42 years ago? 41 years ago, 1983. Little humpback line drive. when you catch it, part of the dream of being a baseball player is to win the World Series.

20:51And then now, because I caught the last out, I won the World Series. So that's the best feeling. Second best feeling and probably the best personal moment was the lap around Camden Yards. I was embarrassed that the game was stopped because the game became official halfway through. And then everybody kept clapping. I kept saying thank you, thank you. And then Bobby Bonilla and Rafael Pomero pushed me out of the line and said, you're going to have to take a lap around here. We'll never get the game started. And I thought it was a silly idea. So I went around and started shaking hands. The celebration went from almost 50 ,000 down to like one-on-one.

21:21And it was kind of cool that way. And by the time I got down to third base, I could care less if the game ever started again. Thanks for listening. To hear more of my interviews, you can subscribe and download my podcast on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen.