Cal Ripken Sr.

At 63 years old, Cal Ripken Sr. physical status not available right now. We will update Cal Ripken Sr.'s height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

The Baltimore Orioles signed Ripken in 1957. The scout who signed him to his first minor league contract, which was for $150 a month, did not have a pen and had to borrow one from a spectator. He began his 36-year tenure in the organization as the starting catcher for the Phoenix Stars of the Class C Arizona–Mexico League. Ripken recalled, "At Phoenix, my manager was Bob Hooper, who also pitched. He was a great teacher and threw the best stiff-wrist slider I ever saw. Bob used so much resin that after a game when I'd congratulate him, our hands would stick together." Next year, he was promoted to the Wilson Tobs of the Class B Carolina League, where he played 118 games. In 1959, he split the season between the Pensacola Dons of the Class D Alabama–Florida League and the Amarillo Gold Sox of the Texas League. Most of his playing time came in 61 games with Pensacola; he only appeared in 30 games for Amarillo.

Ripken spent 1960 with the Fox Cities Foxes of the Class B Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League, known as the Three-I League. He had his best season that year, batting a career-high .281 with 100 hits, nine home runs, and 74 RBI. Earl Weaver, eventually a Hall of Fame manager for the Orioles but manager of Fox Cities in 1960, recalled, "He was hitting over .300 until our team bus driver quit and Cal started doing his job, too. The 15-hour bus trips were strenuous work, but Rip always was hard as nails -- toughness personified." During spring training in 1961, he suffered an injury after several foul tips went off his shoulder. 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. He continued to play, but the injury was one which would take years to fully recover from, and his son, Cal Jr., wrote, "Practically speaking, if my father wanted to stay in the game he'd have to shift his sights from playing to coaching and managing." He played with three teams in 1961: the Class D Leesburg Orioles of the Florida State League, the Double-A Little Rock Travelers of the Southern Association, and the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings of the International League. 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. He appeared in 58 games with the Class D Appleton Foxes in 1962, and played his final games in 1964, when he made two appearances for the Class A Aberdeen Pheasants of the Northern League.

Minor league managerial career

As Ripken's playing career wound down, his coaching career began. His first experience as manager came in 1961, when he succeeded Billy DeMars (who had been promoted) as Leesburg's manager in June. Leesburg folded after the 1961 season. In 1963, at the age of 27, he became a full-time manager with Fox Cities. 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). 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 would also at times be responsible for driving the team bus, or even fixing it. During 1969–70, managing a Triple-A team, he would conduct baseball clinics for the Red Wings players. Cal Jr. would always listen to these; he found them "boring" but did learn some useful baseball skills in them. Although Ripken always considered Aberdeen, Maryland, his home during this period, he and his family lived all over the country as he moved from city to city. In 1975, Ripken served as a scout for the Orioles.

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