Cal Ripken Jr. is used to being mentioned along with Brooks Robinson.
The two men are linked as Baseball Hall of Famers and spending their entire major league careers with the Baltimore Orioles.
By the numbers
1• World Series championship (1983)
2• American League MVP awards (1983, 1991)
19• Appearances in the MLB All-Star game
21• Major league seasons (all with Baltimore)
2,632• Consecutive games played
3,184• Career hits (431 HRs)
Cal Ripken year-by-year statistics
BALTIMORE ORIOLES (1981-2001)
YEAR POS G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA
1981 SS/3B 23 40 39 1 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 .128
1982 SS/3B 160 655 598 90 158 32 5 28 93 3 3 46 95 .264
1983 SS 162 726 663 121 211 47 2 27 102 0 4 58 97 .318
1984 SS 162 716 641 103 195 37 7 27 86 2 1 71 89 .304
1985 SS 161 718 642 116 181 32 5 26 110 2 3 67 68 .282
1986 SS 162 707 627 98 177 35 1 25 81 4 2 70 60 .282
1987 SS 162 717 624 97 157 28 3 27 98 3 5 81 77 .252
1988 SS 161 689 575 87 152 25 1 23 81 2 2 102 69 .264
1989 SS 162 712 646 80 166 30 0 21 93 3 2 57 72 .257
1990 SS 161 695 600 78 150 28 4 21 84 3 1 82 66 .250
1991 SS 162 717 650 99 210 46 5 34 114 6 1 53 46 .323
1992 SS 162 715 637 73 160 29 1 14 72 4 3 64 50 .251
1993 SS 162 718 641 87 165 26 3 24 90 1 4 65 58 .257
1994 SS 112 484 444 71 140 19 3 13 75 1 0 32 41 .315*
1995 SS 144 613 550 71 144 33 2 17 88 0 1 52 59 .262*
1996 SS/3B 163 707 640 94 178 40 1 26 102 1 2 59 78 .278
1997 SS/3B 162 686 615 79 166 30 0 17 84 1 0 56 73 .270
1998 3B 161 659 601 65 163 27 1 14 61 0 2 51 68 .271
1999 3B 86 354 332 51 113 27 0 18 57 0 1 13 31 .340
2000 3B/DH 83 339 309 43 79 16 0 15 56 0 0 23 37 .256
2001 3B/DH 128 516 477 43 114 16 0 14 68 0 2 26 63 .239
TOTALS 3,001 12,883 11,551 1,647 3,184 603 44 443 1,695 36 39 1,129 1,305 .276
*Strike shortened seasons
So when Ripken appears in Robinson's hometown of Little Rock today as the guest speaker at the fourth All-Arkansas Preps banquet, it will be a special moment for him.
Ripken regards Robinson as a hero and friend.
"He was one of those players that was really exciting to watch. I got to see how he competed on the field," Ripken said in a telephone interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette this week.
"But he was even better off the field. He was always there to help somebody, to lend a hand. He used his name and his influence in a positive way. He was a really good model to follow after. I've got the utmost respect for him."
When asked if he's talked to Robinson about Little Rock recently, Ripken said he had not.
"That would be a good reason to get a hold of him, though," he said.
Two-time Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning was the speaker at the first All-Arkansas Preps banquet, followed by New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale and now Ripken.
The banquet will honor more than 300 athletes and coaches in 10 different sports and will be held at 6:30 p.m-9 p.m. at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. All tickets for the banquet have been sold.
Ripken was known for his consistency and durability during a 21-year major league career.
He played in 2,632 consecutive games over 17 seasons, the major league record. He broke former New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig's consecutive games streak of 2,130 games on Sept. 6, 1995, against the California Angels at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
Ripken said his definition of consistency during his streak was making contributions every day.
"It's not the game-winning hit all the time or the game-winning catch," Ripken said. "It's between those things that really matter. For me, it's all the contributions that you can bring to the table every day that will define you and your value. That's my definition of consistency."
Ripken hit .276, with 431 home runs and 1,695 RBI in his career. He is one of 29 players to have at least 3,000 hits in career, finishing with 3,184.
Ripken was called up to the Orioles as a 20-year-old in 1981, and said he was welcomed immediately by the team's star players and veterans, including first baseman Eddie Murray, pitcher Jim Palmer and outfielders Al Bumbry and Ken Singleton.
Ripken said he believes that is something successful teams pick up on.
"They embraced a new member of the team, a rookie," Ripken said. "They pulled him in and made him feel welcome and helped him out. The Orioles organization wasn't about making rookies go through any rituals or feeling like they had to break them in and haze them. The Orioles were the opposite. They'd take you out to dinner. They'd explain the dress code. They'd take you out shopping. There was a lot of things those guys did that made you feel welcome.
"That's important in any sort of work environment or team environment."
In addition to baseball, Ripken played basketball and soccer at Aberdeen High School while growing up in Maryland, and he remains a believer in young people playing more than one sport.
"Put down your baseball glove for a while," Ripken said. "Pick up a basketball. Play soccer. Play football. My belief is that other sports challenge your athleticism in different ways. It makes you a better athlete.
"Basketball for me, I worked on quicker feet, quicker jumping and some explosive movements. Soccer gave me a sense of agility and balance because you're not using your hands. There was a big endurance factor. I really believe [soccer] strengthened my lower half when I was in high school.
"I would say have fun with the other sports. The other benefit is to give your body a rest from throwing a baseball, so that your arm can heal up. You'll have time off by doing other sports."
In his post-playing career, Ripken is still active in the sport.
Since 2002, Ripken Baseball, which has a franchise in Little Rock, has become one of the top youth baseball programs in the United States. Ripken wanted to start the program to pass on knowledge of the game he and his brother Billy received from his father, Cal Ripken Sr., and to allow younger players to feel like major leaguers.
There are three Ripken Baseball complexes in the U.S. -- at Aberdeen, Md., Pigeon Forge, Tenn., and Myrtle Beach, S.C. Each complex has fields modeled after several major league stadiums, including New York's Yankee Stadium and Boston's Fenway Park.
"The whole idea is to make them feel like big leaguers," Ripken said. "And we do a pretty good job of that."
Ripken is an analyst for TBS during the cable network's major league postseason coverage. He said the National League Central-leading Chicago Cubs have impressed him through the first 2½ months of this season.
"They're telling everyone they're for real," Ripken said of the Cubs, citing Manager Joe Maddon's arrival before the 2015 season and the team's young talent led by Kris Bryant.
In tonight's speech, Ripken said he plans on hitting on several topics, one being how parents and coaches can help children have more fun playing sports.
"Pressure is built up on kids all over the place," Ripken said. "Parents can reduce the pressure. Coaches can reduce the pressure. Kids can stop putting pressure on themselves.
"But that's the byproduct of the seriousness and looking too far ahead. I advise parents all the time, try to think of ways to alleviate the pressure instead of adding to it."
Sports on 06/18/2016