Cal Ripken Jr.
American retired baseball player
Why Is Cal Ripken Jr. Influential?
(Suggest an Edit or Addition)According to Wikipedia, Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr. , nicknamed "the Iron Man", is an American former baseball shortstop and third baseman who played his entire 21-season career in Major League Baseball for the Baltimore Orioles . One of his position's most productive offensive 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 , having surpassed 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.
