scholastic - Cal Ripken
A 19-time All-Star and member of the 3000 hit club, Ripken is considered one of the best shortstops to ever play the game. At 6' 4" (1.93 m), 225 lbs. (102.27 kg), he pioneered the way for taller, larger shortstops to be successful in that position.[5][6][7] When inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007,[8] he was a first ballot inductee with the third highest voting percentage (98.53%) in Hall of Fame history, behind Tom Seaver (98.84%) and Nolan Ryan (98.79%).[9]
He was raised in Aberdeen, Maryland, in a baseball family. His father, Cal Sr., was a long-time coach in baseball who managed the Orioles in the late 1980s. Ripken attended Aberdeen High School as did his brother Billy, who later played second base for various teams, including the Orioles. He has two other siblings, Elly and Fred. Ripken married the former Kelly Greer at Towson United Methodist Church and they have a daughter, Rachel (b. 1989), and a son, Ryan (b. 1993).
He is also a best-selling author and President and CEO of Ripken Baseball, Inc.,[10] whose goal is to grow the love of baseball from a more grassroots level. Established in 2001, Ripken Baseball represents Cal and his brother, Bill's, business and philanthropy dealings[11] and focuses on the following subsidiaries -- (1) Ripken Management and Design, (2) Youth Camps and Clinics, (3) Cal Ripken, Sr. foundation, (4) Ripken Professional Baseball, with the Baltimore Orioles minor league affiliate team, the Aberdeen Ironbirds;[12] San Francisco Giants affiliate team, the Augusta GreenJackets; [13] and a third minor-league team not officially named yet, but known as Charlotte County Baseball,[14] and finally (5) Ironclad Authentics.