Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Aug 24/25 Happy Bday Cal Ripken And Albert Belle


Happy birthday Cal Ripken. What more can I say about Cal? He’s my all-time favorite athlete in any sport. What more can you say about his stats? He’s a 19 time, yes… 19 time All-Star selection. One of only 8 players to have 300+ HR’s and 3000+ hits. 82 ROY, 2 time MVP and Hall of famer. Simply the greatest shortstop of all-time. In retirement Cal has been very busy. He (along with brother Bill) has started many business ventures under the Ripken Baseball umbrella. Minor league teams, books, memorabilia, public speaker, commercial endorser and more. His vision of growing baseball at the grass roots level has blossomed into hundreds of thousands of children learning to baseball “The Ripken Way.” Happy 49th Mr. Ripken.



Happy birthday Albert (Joey) Belle. Albert signed a 5yr-$65 million contract with the Orioles prior to the 1999 season. I remember him hitting an opposite field home run at Camden Yards in the opening game that season…I turned to Porkboy and said “he’s gonna hit 162 this year!” Ooops. Albert was on the Orioles payroll from 1999-2003, although he only was active in the 99-00 seasons. During his 2 seasons with the O’s Albert hit 60 dongs and drove in 220, so that was a little over $1 million per homerun. Albert developed an arthritic hip that cut his career with the Orioles short. He is one of only 5 MLB players (Ruth, Foxx, Gehrig & Pujols) to hit 30+ HR’s and drive in 100+ in 8 consecutive seasons. In retirement Albert got big as a house and started stalking escorts. Happy 43rd Mr. Belle.

Cheers and Hail

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