All Star '99 / Boston.com / Baseball

"WRITE FIELD" WINNERS

Cal Ripken essay

By Philip Gary, Age 17, Grades 10-12 Division, 07/09/99

was there. In a seat next to the bullpen in the left-field stands. I was attending a baseball game, but it was more than a game, it was an event. History was made that night. At the end of the fifth inning, when all games become official, history was made. The Bird unfurled the No. 1 from his room in the warehouse, and down it fell. Not just the number, not just a record, but so too fell the recent animosity and distance between the fans and the players. Why? Because in an age where fans see more contract disputes than bunts, in an age where a player's loyalty to his team and its city seemed nonexistent, in an age where a World Series, the ultimate baseball moment, had actually been canceled, because of a disagreement about salaries and contracts, here was a man who was different. Here was a man who played his whole career for the same team, the same city. A man so loyal to his fans, that he will come out of the clubhouse with an umbrella during a rain delay to sign autographs. It didn't matter that he hadn't hit 30 home runs in a season for five years, and it didn't matter that the team was in the midst of a losing season. That man, Cal Ripken Jr., did something special that night. I'm not talking about the homer he smacked off Shawn Boskie, and to be honest I'm not really talking about breaking Lou Gehrig's record. I'm talking about the moment that occurred before the top of the sixth when that man, that shortstop, walked out of the dugout and on to the field. He walked out onto the infield grass not to field grounders as he does so effortlessly time and time again but this time he took a walk around the stadium, and he reached out to our hands, thanking us for our support. He thanked us, when it really should have been us thanking him. Thank you very much, Cal Ripken, for putting baseball back where it belongs: In our hearts.