[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 19, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H3361-H3362]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO CALVIN EDWIN RIPKEN, SR.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Ehrlich) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. EHRLICH. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to congratulate the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings) for a fine job there on behalf 
of the chairman of the Committee on Rules.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Calvin Edwin Ripken, Sr., born on 
December 17, 1935, in Harford County, Maryland, at a place designated 
on Harford County maps circa 1940 as ``Ripken's Corner.''
  At the age of nine, young Cal was left fatherless due to an accident 
that took the life of his father, Arend, at the intersection of U.S. 40 
and Maryland Route 7 in Harford County. Fostered by two older brothers, 
Ollie, 18 years his senior, and Bill, some 10 years older, Cal followed 
his brothers to every sand lot game they played in the old Susquehanna 
League.
  At the age of 12, Cal became the batboy of the Aberdeen Canners, a 
semi-pro baseball club playing in that same Susquehanna League. One day 
when his signs were being stolen by an opposing team, Manager Fred 
Baldwin asked young Ripken, ``Boy, do you know how to give signs?'' 
Calvin said, ``yes.'' So for the next 2 years, young Cal gave the signs 
sitting on top of the bats. No one ever figured out where the signs 
were coming from.
  In 1953, Cal Sr. graduated from Aberdeen High School and was offered 
a soccer scholarship to Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.
  Cal Sr.'s baseball team began when he played for those same Canners 
in 1955 and 1956. He was a catcher, the same position his older 
brother, Ollie, had held years before. In 1957, Cal accepted a minor 
league contract with the Baltimore Orioles and was sent to play in 
Phoenix, Arizona.
  On November 30, 1957, Cal married Violet Gross, a marriage that 
produced four children in Elly, Cal Jr., Fred, and Bill. Cal Sr. 
subsequently progressed through the Orioles' minor league system until 
spring training of 1961. During a game as a member of the Rochester Red 
Wings, Cal was struck by foul tips twice in succession on the right 
shoulder, causing a disabling injury. Following a short rehabilitation 
stay in Little Rock, Arkansas, Cal was given the opportunity to turn 
his talents to managing and became, at 25 years old, the youngest 
manager in the Orioles' system. From there he rose through that system 
to become the Orioles' third base coach. And then, in

[[Page H3362]]

1987, he became manager of the Baltimore Orioles, the team he so dearly 
loved.
  Cal Ripken, Sr., and Cal Ripken, Jr., represent the first ever 
father-son teammates to win a World Series, in 1983. In addition, Cal 
Sr. is the first manager to ever manage two sons, Cal Jr. and Billy, on 
the same major league baseball team at the same time.
  On March 25, 1999, at the age of 63, Cal Sr. succumbed to lung 
cancer. Cal Sr. never moved away from his hometown. There he was not 
known as the father of Cal Jr. but as a neighbor who would help anyone 
who was in need. After his retirement from baseball, Cal remained 
involved in the community by lending his support to many causes. 
Specifically, Cal and Vi dedicated their time and money to many 
charities, including the Maryland Special Olympics and the Boys and 
Girls Clubs of Harford County.
  Cal also hosted an annual instructional baseball camp for youngsters 
who wanted to learn how to play the game of baseball. Cal Sr. loved to 
teach and would spend countless hours helping those who wanted to learn 
from this man, who had spent his entire life in the game of baseball.
  Cal Sr. and Vi were the driving force behind the Boys and Girls Clubs 
of Harford County in Maryland. Recently, the Justice Department granted 
the Boys and Girls Clubs $77,777.77 in memory of Cal Sr. The sevens 
symbolize the number worn by Cal Sr. on the baseball field. The number 
7 is now etched inside the third base coach's box at Camden Yards.
  I offer my sincerest sympathies to Cal's wife Vi, his children, Cal 
Jr., Billy, Fred, and Ellen. The loss of Cal Sr. is felt by all who 
admired this great man who gave back so much to his community.

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