Cal Ripken Jr. is known for being one of the last of his kind both as an ironman and as a guy who was loyal to one team after playing an MLB record 2,632 consecutive games for the Baltimore Orioles over 16 years.
In a recent media appearance, he recently revealed that there was almost a time when he wasn’t the Orioles’ shortstop, as one American League rival tried to pry him away from Baltimore.
Ripken recently appeared on The Road to Cooperstown, which is the official podcast of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and said that the New York Yankees made a run at him at one point, and Ripken said that Don Mattingly and Dave Winfield came to the All-Star game one year with the goal of convincing Ripken how great it was to play in New York.
Cal Ripken Jr, Yankees Shortstop? 🤔 They tried.
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Ripken joked that it couldn’t have worked too well because shortly after the All-Star break, an article came out that detailed Yankees owner George Steinbrenner criticizing Mattingly and Winfield.
The two Yankees stars likely never got too close to neutralizing one of their biggest rivals and luring Ripken to New York, but it turned out just fine for New York as it got to experience Derek Jeter at shortstop for about two decades after this occurrence.
Playing an entire career with one team is becoming a lost art, and even though Ripken could have left and perhaps chased a World Series title somewhere else, he’ll forever be revered as baseball’s last true ironman.