After reading this I was reminded of the times I had met Cal in the past. Most prominently was the evening when Cal reached the 3,000-hit mark at a game which I worked back during the 2000 baseball season.
During my time here on this big, blue marble I have had the great luck and great fortune to witness a number of great and rare sports moments in person. I've witnessed Dave Winfield's 3,000th hit, two no-hitters, two Super Bowl games, the 1991 World Series games 1,2,6 and 7, and was in the field immediately following each of those games, and the Stanley Cup presentation to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991.
April 15th, 2022 will mark the 22nd anniversary of the night that Cal Ripken notched the 3,000th hit of his Hall of Fame career. It happened in Minneapolis at the Metrodome versus the Minnesota Twins. I was a member of the Twins' front office staff at the time and was at that game.
The game against the Orioles wasn't attended by many people, to be truthful. The game drew only 18,745 fans, most of whom were there for the chance to witness history. Cal had started the season at 2,991 hits and the O's began the season with a 6-game homestand. But he had only gotten (only) six hits over the seven previous games. The team was to head back home for a game on Monday night where he might reach 3,000 in front of his adoring home fans at Camden Yards.
But after having already gotten two base hits earlier in the game, Ripken was set to face Hector Carrasco in the 7th inning. At 8:06 p.m. Ripken singled directly over second base and became the 24th player in major league history to reach the coveted 3,000 hit mark. The crowd stood and applauded for three full minutes as Cal came over to the stands to hand the ball to his wife Kelly and get congratulations from kids Rachel and Ryan. He went back to the first base bag where he was congratulated by Oriole first base coach Eddie Murray, himself already a member of the 3,000 hit club, and by Twins first baseman Ron Coomer.
April 15th, 2022 will mark the 22nd anniversary of the night that Cal Ripken notched the 3,000th hit of his Hall of Fame career. It happened in Minneapolis at the Metrodome versus the Minnesota Twins. I was a member of the Twins' front office staff at the time and was at that game.
The game against the Orioles wasn't attended by many people, to be truthful. The game drew only 18,745 fans, most of whom were there for the chance to witness history. Cal had started the season at 2,991 hits and the O's began the season with a 6-game homestand. But he had only gotten (only) six hits over the seven previous games. The team was to head back home for a game on Monday night where he might reach 3,000 in front of his adoring home fans at Camden Yards.
But after having already gotten two base hits earlier in the game, Ripken was set to face Hector Carrasco in the 7th inning. At 8:06 p.m. Ripken singled directly over second base and became the 24th player in major league history to reach the coveted 3,000 hit mark. The crowd stood and applauded for three full minutes as Cal came over to the stands to hand the ball to his wife Kelly and get congratulations from kids Rachel and Ryan. He went back to the first base bag where he was congratulated by Oriole first base coach Eddie Murray, himself already a member of the 3,000 hit club, and by Twins first baseman Ron Coomer.
Once he was done with the impromptu autograph session we on the staff proceeded to do what we do to empty the ballpark and call it a night. I had the office closest to the clubhouses, both Twins' and visitors'. I had to take care of some paperwork before I left, but finally closed my office door about 90 minutes after the last out of the game had been recorded.
To get from my office to the employee parking lot I would have to walk through the concourse which ran in a circle around the lowest level of the ballpark. I breezed past the Twins clubhouse and while moving counter-clockwise around the curve of the hallway I saw Cal just leaving the clubhouse. It was a misty evening and he had on a long raincoat as he exited.
"Hey Cal!", I said as I walked toward him and we made eye contact. "Hey, Rod", he replied, in a tone that would make the casual observer believe that we regularly encountered one another at least once a day. I was stunned in that we had only met twice before, both at the annual 8-ball tournament hosted by the late Twins great and HOFer Kirby Puckett.
I congratulated him and we then proceeded to talk about the game, the hit itself and the fact that he was relieved that this milestone had been finally reached. I walked out of the stadium with a sense of surrealism in that I'd even had this conversation with him on the evening of such a momentous occasion.
Cal has since retired with a total of 3,184 base hits following the completion of the 2001 season. He has done an incredible amount of charity work over the decades and is still very active in helping the game grow in a time when kids aren't playing it very much in the states. I saw him a few years ago on "The James Brown Show", hosted by the popular sports anchor who can be seen on Fox's NFL studio show on Sundays. He spoke of how catching the final out of the World Series was his greatest baseball experience and how the run around the warning track on the night he set the record for most games played was the greatest HUMAN experience he'd ever had. I thought it was an amazing insight to the man himself.
With that being said, I just wanted to share my "brush with greatness" with those of you who enjoy reading my ramblings.
It's not showing' off.......if it's true. And this IS.
I'm just sayin'.
"Hey Cal!", I said as I walked toward him and we made eye contact. "Hey, Rod", he replied, in a tone that would make the casual observer believe that we regularly encountered one another at least once a day. I was stunned in that we had only met twice before, both at the annual 8-ball tournament hosted by the late Twins great and HOFer Kirby Puckett.
I congratulated him and we then proceeded to talk about the game, the hit itself and the fact that he was relieved that this milestone had been finally reached. I walked out of the stadium with a sense of surrealism in that I'd even had this conversation with him on the evening of such a momentous occasion.
Cal has since retired with a total of 3,184 base hits following the completion of the 2001 season. He has done an incredible amount of charity work over the decades and is still very active in helping the game grow in a time when kids aren't playing it very much in the states. I saw him a few years ago on "The James Brown Show", hosted by the popular sports anchor who can be seen on Fox's NFL studio show on Sundays. He spoke of how catching the final out of the World Series was his greatest baseball experience and how the run around the warning track on the night he set the record for most games played was the greatest HUMAN experience he'd ever had. I thought it was an amazing insight to the man himself.
With that being said, I just wanted to share my "brush with greatness" with those of you who enjoy reading my ramblings.
It's not showing' off.......if it's true. And this IS.
I'm just sayin'.
