Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
November 14, 2003, Washington Post

A Real Team Player

Cal Ripken Jr. doesn't play for the Baltimore Orioles anymore, but he is still busy with baseball. These days the legendary "Iron Man," along with his brother Billy, another former major leaguer, is running baseball camps and building a baseball dream park in Aberdeen, Maryland. The park includes a 6,000-seat minor league stadium and kid-size replicas of famous big league fields, including Camden Yards and Wrigley Field. Check it out at www.ripkenbaseball.com.

He also is active in Cal Ripken/Babe Ruth baseball and does so much volunteer work, including starting the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation to teach poor kids about life through baseball, that he will receive an award from the Volunteers of America on Monday.

I spoke to Cal Ripken about kids sports. Here's what he had to say.

What sports did you play as a kid?

I am a games person and I really like winning, so I enjoyed all sports when I was growing up. I played soccer and baseball all through high school and basketball for my freshman year.

Was baseball always your favorite sport?

Yeah, because I was around the sport every summer with my dad. [Cal Ripken Sr. was a minor league baseball coach for the Orioles when Cal Jr. was growing up.] When I was 8 or 9 years old I used to tell people that I wanted to be a major league baseball player.

When did you start to specialize in baseball?

Not until I was drafted by the Orioles after high school. My dad was a big believer that when the baseball season was over, you put your glove away and did something else. So we were very seasonal with our sports growing up.

Do your kids play sports?

Sure. Rachel, who is going to be 14 soon, plays field hockey, lacrosse and basketball. Ryan is 10 and he plays basketball, soccer and baseball. I have coached both their basketball teams for the last three to four years and I have seen every one of Ryan's baseball games since I retired from the Orioles.

How are sports different for your kids than when you were growing up?

Sports were more recreational when I was growing up. I played a lot in the playground. There is also more pressure and emphasis on winning in youth sports today. Things can get out of whack sometimes. That is why we try to do some different things in our Cal Ripken/Babe Ruth tournaments.

What do you do?

First, we explain to the kids at the opening banquet that, sure, this is a tournament and one team is going to win, but it really should be a fun experience and a celebration of baseball. We also encourage the kids to get to know the players on the other teams and schedule fun things for them to do on their days off.

One thing that my brother Billy and I did last year that worked great was that we gave clinics to the teams that were eliminated from the tournament. We mixed all the players up from the different teams, so the kids were getting to know each other, learning baseball and having a wonderful time.

Didn't you lose a big tournament game when you were a kid?

My Little League team lost the regional final in Florida, 4-3. I gave up a three-run homer that just made it over the left-field fence, so I was the losing pitcher. We were all crying like crazy. If we had flown home then it would have been terrible. But the next day, the team from North Carolina took us deep-sea fishing. Most of the kids, including me, had never been out in a boat so far in the ocean before. That changed what might have been a big disappointment into a positive experience.

So if you could change some things about kids sports, what would you change?

First, I would try to emphasize the fun in sports. It is supposed to be a game. Next, I would try to return the games to the kids. I don't think coaches and parents realize how much pressure they put on the kids by yelling, even encouraging things, at them during the game. My dad would never try to correct a mistake during the heat of the game. He would write the mistake down in a notebook and talk to the player later, after he had cooled down.

Sometimes I think parents try to help their kids by helping them avoid failures. But in sports, you have to fail sometimes. Then you have a chance to learn from that.