Billy was born into a baseball family as his father, Cal Ripken, Sr., was a player and manager for the Baltimore Orioles. He was drafted in the eleventh round of the 1982. Other notable players drafted that year included pitchers Dwight Gooden and Randy Johnson, outfielders Bo …show more content…
During a 12-year career, he had a .247 batting average with a total of 20 home runs and 229 runs batted in. In 1988, he had career highs with 150 games played, 512 at bats, 52 runs scored, eight stolen bases, and 63 strikeouts. In 1990, he had a career high of 38 runs batted in, and in 1992, he hit a career high of four home runs. From 1992 until his final season in 1998, Ripken was good enough defensively to be used as a utility infielder, but his low offensive production often kept him out of starting lineups. Today, he works as an analyst with the MLB Network, and he is the co-founder of a foundation that helps youth people living in distressed communities.
The 1989 Bill Ripken baseball card is unique for the vulgar statement written on the bottom of the knob on his bat. He later admitted to writing the statement on the bat he used for batting practice to help him distinguish it from the other bats used by his teammates. When the photographer asked him to pose for a baseball card picture, he thought he picked up a different bat used by one of his teammates. Neither one noticed the writing on the