page_title: Cal Ripken Jr.
section_title: 1996–2001
hierarchical_section_title: Cal Ripken Jr. / Baltimore Orioles / 1996–2001
context_page_description: Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr., nicknamed "The Iron Man", is an American former baseball shortstop and third baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Baltimore Orioles. One of his position's most offensively productive players, Ripken compiled 3,184 hits, 431 home runs, and 1,695 runs batted in during his career, and he won two Gold Glove Awards for his defense. He was a 19-time All-Star and was twice named American League Most Valuable Player. Ripken holds the record for consecutive games played, 2,632, surpassing Lou Gehrig's streak of 2,130 that had stood for 56 years and that many deemed unbreakable. In 2007, he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility with 98.53% of votes, the sixth-highest election percentage ever.
  Born in Maryland, Ripken grew up traveling around the United States as his father, Cal Sr., was a player and coach in the Orioles' organization. After playing at Aberdeen High School, Ripken Jr. was drafted by the Orioles in the second round of the 1978 MLB draft.
context_section_description: Ripken began the 1996 season slowly, but his playing improved as the season went on. On June 14 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City against the Royals, Ripken broke the world record of consecutive games played by playing in his 2,216th. The record had been held by Sachio Kinugasa of Japan. Kinugasa was at the game to watch Ripken break his record. On July 15, Ripken was moved to third base as an experiment, with Manny Alexander taking the shortstop position. He was told the change would be permanent but was moved back to shortstop after Alexander had one hit in his six games at shortstop. Ripken appeared in 163 games during the regular season in 1996, batting .278 with 26 home runs, 102 RBIs, and a .980 fielding percentage at shortstop. He returned to the playoffs for the first time in 13 years as the Orioles won the AL Wild Card. In the AL Division Series, Baltimore defeated Cleveland in four games, with Ripken batting .444 in the series. His average fell to .250 in the ALCS as the Orioles were defeated in five games by the Yankees.
  In 1997, the Orioles signed free-agent shortstop Mike Bordick from the Oakland Athletics and moved Ripken back to third base permanently. General manager Pat Gillick said that the move was made not because of problems by Ripken but because more defensive options were available at shortstop than at third base. Had Ripken not wanted to move back to third base, the Orioles likely would have signed Tim Naehring instead.
  Ripken was scheduled to become a free agent following the 1997 season, but at the start of the year he agreed to a two-year extension with the Orioles. During the season, he suffered from nerve damage that at times kept him from being able to sit on the bench. However, he did not miss a game and batted .270 with 17 home runs and 84 RBIs as the Orioles again made the playoffs—this time by winning the AL East. Ripken batted .438 as the Orioles defeated the Mariners in four games in the ALDS. He batted .348 and hit a home run in the ALCS, but the Orioles fell to Cleveland in six games.
  Ripken batted .271 with 14 home runs and 61 RBIs in 1998. On September 20, before the final home game of the season against the Yankees, Ripken decided to end his streak at 2,632 games, having surpassed Gehrig's previous record by 502 games. Rookie third baseman Ryan Minor started in his place, at first thinking it was a rookie prank. Realizing that the streak was coming to an end, the fans, his teammates, and the visiting Yankees (with David Wells being the first to notice that Ripken was not playing during batting practice) gave Ripken an ovation after the game's first out was recorded. Ripken later stated that he decided to end the streak at the end of the season to avoid any offseason controversy about his playing status and to end the streak entirely on his own terms while he still could.  Ripken returned to the lineup for the final seven games of the season, on the road against the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox.
  In 1999, Ripken had the highest batting average of his career, at .340. Although he was injured at both the beginning and the end of the 1999 season and also mourned the loss of his father and former coach Cal Ripken Sr. only a few days before 1999's opening game, he hit 18 homers in 332 at-bats (one HR every 18.4 AB's). He had the best individual game of his career, going 6 for 6 with 2 home runs off John Smoltz and tying a club record with 13 total bases against the Atlanta Braves on June 13. On September 3, he hit the 400th home run of his career against Rolando Arrojo of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
  Ripken's 1999 season ended early due to injury when he was only nine hits away from joining the 3,000 hit club. He achieved the milestone early in the 2000 season in an April game against the Twins at the Metrodome when he singled off reliever Héctor Carrasco. Ripken had a good night at the plate, recording three hits, the third of which was the milestone. Ripken missed all of July and August with a back injury. He was selected to the All-Star Game but sat out because of the injury, ma
caption: Ripken in the later part of his career
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