Cal Ripken Jr.: Road to Cooperstown -- VAGazette.com

B. Ripken going to visit China

Representatives of Ripken Baseball are heading to China next week for the second time in six months to continue building a baseball foundation in the world's most populated country. More

He's at the Wall

Cal Ripken Jr. has been to Yankee Stadium, built in 1923, renovated in 1976. More

Baseball still trying to get to first base in China

Han Jichao is 12 years old, and he has been playing baseball for two years. He has already been spotted by Major League Baseball officials, who've taken note of his raw talent and tireless work ethic. Hard work and dedication, Han says, are what it will take for him to someday realize his dream and play in the majors. More

Iron envoy takes the field in China

Diplomacy, apparently, has no dress code. More

Long fly lands half a world away

Earlier, whisking nearly 600 mph thousands of feet above Siberia, an airline crew member recognized the flight's most famous passenger. He pulled Cal Ripken Jr. aside, into the service area of the plane and asked for an autograph. More

Ripken to visit China as envoy

Cal Ripken Jr. has developed a lucrative, baseball-centered career that includes stints as a television analyst, co-owner of a minor league team and a long list of other business interests since retiring from the Baltimore Orioles in 2002. But when he boards a plane at Washington Dulles International Airport today for his latest venture, he'll be carrying a batch of newly printed business cards. More

House votes to rename I-395 in Ripken's honor

On the 12th anniversary of Cal Ripken Jr.'s record-tying 2,130th consecutive game, the House of Representatives voted yesterday to rename a section of Interstate 395 after the former Orioles star. More

U.S. drafts Ripken as envoy of good will

Cal Ripken Jr., who usually avoids the political arena, was named a State Department sports envoy yesterday. He plans to remain politically neutral even as he joins forces with the Bush administration to try to bolster America's image overseas. More

Ripken becomes U.S. special envoy

From Cooperstown to China. That's the road Cal Ripken Jr. is traveling. More

A fan's cancer fight, inspired by Ripken

Yesterday's editions of The Sun carried a special section devoted to Cal Ripken Jr.'s entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Sprinkled throughout was a bevy of congratulatory ads, from a full-page salute to Ripken by the Ravens to another from the Energizer bunny. More

Induction Speech

Softer side of Iron Man

The Iron Man of preparation knew that an emotional outburst was likely, no matter how many times he had rehearsed his Hall of Fame induction speech. More

At home in the Hall

The record-setting crowd shouted out its love of Cal Ripken Jr. at yesterday's Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony. But it was when Ripken was expressing love for his family that the usually stoic Orioles great lost his composure. More

Commentary

Maese: Ripken is still shaping his legacy

A 2,632 game streak and a record-breaking work ethic can hardly be chalked up to destiny alone. Cal Ripken Jr. does recognize, though, how the path of the Susquehanna River mirrors his journey to the Baseball Hall of Fame. More

At Camden Yards

O's, Yankees fans set rivalry aside to cheer Ripken

Though it doesn't happen often, Orioles and New York Yankees fans were on the same side yesterday. Rather than leave Camden Yards and immerse themselves in the gnarled post-game traffic, some stayed to watch a taped broadcast of Cal Ripken Jr.'s Hall of Fame induction speech on the ballpark's video board. More

Ripken's day arrives

Cal Ripken Jr., baseball's "Iron Man" and heretofore the embodiment of boundless energy, is tired. More

'It still feels a little like a fantasy'

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y.Cal Ripken Jr.'s lifelong love affair with Baltimore and baseball, which began at the knee of his father and ran through 20 years of playing and one incredible streak, will reach another pinnacle today - the Hall of Fame. More

Schmuck: With Ripken, Gwynn, town has true legends

It is the pleasant nature of this quaint little upstate village that makes it so easy to overlook the disconnect between truth and legend that allowed it to become the hometown of baseball history. More

Ripken bowed out with plan in hand

It's a familiar story. More

Scenes from Cooperstown

Californian has always had eyes for Ripken More

Schmuck: Ripken joy is a respite amid list of scandals

Orioles president Andy MacPhail has always looked young for his age, but don't mistake that for being short on perspective. More

Maese: Once more, Ripken offers Orioles fans reason to rejoice

If you're able to ignore the baseball standings, it was about the best night you could imagine at the ballpark. Giant numbers were hanging on the warehouse again. Rabid fans filled the seats at Oriole Park again. The Orioles won a game again. And for a beleaguered and frustrated fan base, for three hours, there was something worth cheering again. More

Ripken on his way

He's considered the most prepared player to wear an Orioles uniform, perhaps the most prepared athlete in the history of the game. More

Steele: Outsiders connected with Streak, missed on Ripken's greatness

Millions watched the festivities at Camden Yards on Sept. 6, 1995, when the "2131" banner was unfurled on the warehouse wall and Cal Ripken Jr. lapped the field slapping hands. More

Peek beyond The Streak

Sometimes, one aspect of a ballplayer's resume is so striking that it obscures every other trait and accomplishment. More

'Viva Le Brooks!'

Twenty-four years ago, the Baseball Hall of Fame welcomed an Oriole known simply by his first name - a balding infielder who defined his position and bled orange all his life. More

Maese: With speech, Ripken fields tough chance

It's not that Cal Ripken Jr. is at all ungrateful, but you've got to understand, over the past few months, virtually everyone he encounters goes through the same two-step greeting. More

License plates mark Ripken's drive to Hall

Maryland sports fans can already buy license plates that show off their interest as hunters, bowlers and runners. But can those plates affect their cars' performance? More

Frager: Steady diet of Ripken offers much iron, few archival clips

And now back to our regularly scheduled sports media notebook, but there's no need to TiVo it. More

Sun follow-up

Ripken urged to renegotiate stadium pacts

Several state lawmakers urged Ripken Baseball yesterday to renegotiate deals with the city of Aberdeen and help the small community as it struggles with debts it took on to build a minor league baseball complex. More

Thousands turn out to greet Ripken

The Iron Man hobbled up the stage showing a bit of rust. More

The Flip Side

Ripken bobbleheads a nod to resale market

It didn't take long. The Orioles gave away a Cal Ripken Jr. bobblehead doll Sunday, and now, they are on eBay. More

Ripken visits Hall he'll soon call home

The juxtaposition was too interesting to ignore. The Orioles organization spent yesterday dodging questions about the latest troubling revelations in baseball's seemingly endless steroid scandal while squeaky clean Cal Ripken Jr. toured the National Baseball Hall of Fame in preparation for his induction in July. More

Ripken a reminder of O's past success, current problems

More than five years have passed, and the face of the organization still hasn't changed. Not for a single day. It was there again yesterday for the home opener, in fact. We saw him lob a soft toss to Miguel Tejada - the ceremonial first pitch. And just as they always had before, the fans went crazy. More

Stars are on ball at autograph show

In a private room at one end of the 300 level of the Baltimore Convention Center, four Hall of Famers sat at separate tables, signing baseballs, bats, jerseys and helmets that later would be shipped as pre-orders and sold. More

Wrong about Ripken

It was my wife who wanted to name our son for a baseball player. More

Ripken, Gwynn in sync

Cal Ripken Jr. looked at the man seated to his left on the dais at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan yesterday afternoon and said he would speak first - joking that Tony Gwynn might need time to find a proper answer. More

Hall town says July lodging going fast

Cal Ripken fans who want to see his Hall of Fame induction on July 29 should make travel plans soon because available lodging around Cooperstown, N.Y., is diminishing rapidly, according to the small town's Chamber of Commerce. More

The Flip Side

Late-night laughs with Cal and Tony

In case you didn't stay up late last night, Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn read the Top 10 list on David Letterman's show. Here are Ripken's "Good Things About Being Elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame": More

Cal's counted in at Cooperstown

Cal Ripken Jr. heard the most important words yesterday, the ones he had tried to keep from crossing his mind for more than five years now - "Welcome to the Hall of Fame" - and he then "glossed over" the rest of the midday conversation about vote totals and percentages. More

The Reaction

Weighing in, fans on balance laud Ripken's career

The Sun asked readers to share their thoughts on Cal Ripken Jr. as he was voted into the Hall of Fame. A sampling of their responses: More

Q&A

'Being elected ... is the ultimate'

Cal Ripken Jr. recently visited The Sun for a wide-ranging question-and-answer session to discuss the Hall of Fame and other matters related to his career. He was interviewed by Sun staff members Dan Connolly, John Eisenberg, Peter Schmuck and Childs Walker. We excerpt the interview below: More

Orioles

Analytical nature set Ripken apart, fellow players say

For the current and former Orioles who played with Cal Ripken Jr., there was little suspense surrounding his election to the Hall of Fame. More

Baltimore's best

Ripken ranks in Big 3

Cal Ripken Jr.'s election to the Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday punctuated his legacy as one of Baltimore's greatest sports figures. More

It's stuff of fiction, but it's fact

Let's call it what it is: a pure sports fantasy. More

For fans in '95, Ripken's pen was mightier than his bat

Cal Ripken Jr.'s career speaks for itself. More

High School

As youth, 'Calvin' positively driven

On the day that Cal Ripken Jr. earned his place among the giants of the game, his former coach at Aberdeen High School recalled a scrawny freshman who battled his way onto the varsity baseball team. More

Falling Short

McGwire spurned

Mark McGwire came far closer yesterday to dropping off the ballot than entering the Hall of Fame. More

Also Voted In

For Gwynn, it's a home run

The man who never flinched in the batter's box during his 20 seasons in the majors, who never lost his composure under the most trying of circumstances, had a natural reaction yesterday when informed by phone that he was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot. More

Hall of Fame voting results

Candidate, Votes, % of Votes More

Peter Angelos' statement on Ripken's HOF election

Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos issued the following statement today on Cal Ripken Jr.'s election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. More

All-time Hall of Fame voting percentages

Player, Year, Cast, Votes, Pct. More

Hall of Fame

Voters: More than 2,131 reasons that Ripken belongs

Mention the name Cal Ripken Jr., and one image immediately comes to mind: the victory lap around Camden Yards on Sept. 6, 1995, when he surpassed Lou Gehrig as baseball's all-time iron man and helped bring baseball back into American homes. More

First-ballot doubts follow McGwire

When the three perennial All-Stars retired five years ago, the National Baseball Hall of Fame's Class of 2007 had the potential to be one of the best in history. More

Baseball Hall of Fame

Perfectly positioned

The drama won't be in the announcement -- it will be in the details. More

McGwire might not mind being skipped in Hall's order

Sometime in the early afternoon on Tuesday, Cal Ripken will pick up the phone in Baltimore and Tony Gwynn will pick up the phone in San Diego, and it won't be to make a bet on the AFC championship game. More