Born near Aberdeen, Maryland, which he called home throughout his life, Ripken joined the Baltimore Orioles in 1957 as a minor league player.

Several of his students, including Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, and most prominently his son Cal Jr., went on to Hall of Fame careers.

He became involved in baseball as early as 1946, when he served as the batboy for a semipro team his older brother Oliver played for.

[2] He attended Aberdeen High School, where he helped the baseball team win three county championships and go undefeated in 1952.

However, as former teammate J. Robert Hooper recalled, "We couldn't win the championship because Rip was in spring training.

Initial X-rays showed nothing, but three months into the season it was discovered that Ripken had a dislocated shoulder, an atrophied deltoid muscle, and a tendon problem.

The stint with Rochester came because the Red Wings were in desperate need of a catcher; although Ripken could catch and handle pitchers, the injury had robbed him of the ability to throw well.

From 1963 through 1974, he managed Fox Cities, Abderdeen (1963–64, 66), the Tri-City Atoms (1965), the Miami Marlins (1967), the Elmira Pioneers (1968), the Rochester Red Wings (1969–70), the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs (1971), and the Asheville Orioles (1972–74).

[6] As a manager in the minor leagues, Ripken oversaw the development of Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, and Rich Dauer, among other Orioles.

In addition to normal coaching duties, he was also at times responsible for driving the team bus, or even fixing it.

[15] Halfway through 1977, he became the third base coach for the Orioles when Billy Hunter was hired to be the manager of the Texas Rangers.

Ripken could be tough on the players he coached, enjoying using the term "lunkhead" when talking to them, but he always made time to answer any questions they had about the game.

[11] Doug DeCinces, who played under him through the 1981 season, recalled, "He was the dictator of that regimen, instructing us on everything down to how to wear our socks.

'"[7] The Orioles experienced great success during this time, reaching the World Series in 1979, which they lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games.

[20] After Altobelli was fired in 1985, Ripken finally got his chance to manage, but it was only for one game in the absence of Weaver, who came out of retirement.

[22] The Orioles were coming off their first last-place finish in Baltimore, but Ripken expressed confidence in the team at the beginning of the 1987 season, saying, "I know these guys can get the job done.

Pitching plagued the club; Harvey Rosenfeld wrote it was "the root cause of the Orioles' problems.

"[28] The Orioles finished sixth in the American League East at 67–95, setting a team record with 51 home losses.

"[31] The move "hurt" and "bothered" Cal Jr., but he worked through it and remained with the team for 13 more seasons, the rest of his career.

"[35] Brady Anderson, who played for the Orioles from 1988 through 2001 and hit 50 home runs in 1996, credited Ripken for helping him make it with the Orioles: "I'll never forget earlier in my career how Cal Sr. stayed with me, trying to help me become a better player when it might not have been the fashionable thing to do within the organization.

[5][37] The Orioles offered him the brand new position of coordinator of minor league field operations, but he declined, disappointed at being removed from third base.

[39] A heavy smoker who once refuted a claim that he sat in back of team buses to be alone by saying he did so to "smoke cigarettes", Ripken died on March 25, 1999, at the age of 63 from lung cancer, seventeen days after the death of Joe DiMaggio.

[9] The Orioles wore a number 7 patch on their sleeves all through the 1999 season to commemorate Ripken's contributions to the team.

[41] Altogether, Ripken spent 36 years in the Baltimore Orioles organization, serving as a player, a scout, a coach, and a manager.

Cal Jr. most notably broke Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played and had over 3,000 hits in his Hall of Fame career.