Cal Ripken Jr.

Cal Ripken, Jr. is baseball’s all-time Iron Man. He retired from baseball in October 2001 after 21 seasons with his hometown Baltimore Orioles. During his career he was Rookie of the Year, a 19-time All-Star, a 2-time AL MVP, and is one of only 12 players in history to amass over 400 home runs and 3,000 hits. In 2007, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1995, Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s Major League record for consecutive games played (2,130) and voluntarily ended his streak on September 20, 1998, after playing 2,632 consecutive games. Today, Ripken is a successful business leader and philanthropist. In 2024, he joined the Baltimore Orioles ownership group led by David Rubenstein as a minority partner. In addition, he recently sold controlling interest in two businesses; Ripken Baseball, the youth baseball business he founded with his brother Bill, and the Aberdeen IronBirds, minor league affiliate of the Orioles. In 2001, Cal and his family established the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation in memory of the family’s patriarch. Since its inception, the Foundation has impacted over 11 million kids in underserved communities. They have constructed and gifted nearly 120 Youth Development Parks in 27 states. These are multipurpose fields that provide kids with safe places to play and learn. The Foundation has also completed over 465 STEM Centers in 23 states, as well as 21 districtwide elementary and middle school STEM programs. Since 2007, Cal has served as a Special Public Diplomacy Envoy to the U.S. State Department and has traveled internationally on goodwill trips using baseball to bring people together. And since 2015, Ripken has been a Special Adviser to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on youth programs and outreach. Cal resides in Annapolis with his wife, the Honorable Laura Ripken.