Continuing a Heritage of Helping
In 2001, brothers Bill and Cal Ripken, Jr. Co-Founded the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation as a tribute to their father’s devotion to teaching life skills and lessons through sports.
Bill Ripken
On July 11, 1987, Bill began his 12-year major league career when he was called up by his hometown Baltimore Orioles. The day would make history as the team was managed by his father, Cal Ripken, Sr. and one of his teammates was shortstop and brother, Cal, Jr. It would mark the only time that a father managed two of his sons in the big leagues at the same time and would cement the Ripkens as one of the great baseball families in the game’s rich history. Bill would go on to play with the Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, and Detroit Tigers as well. Following his retirement from playing, Bill, along with his brother Cal, established Ripken Baseball and the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, and he was inducted into the Maryland Sports Hall of Fame.
Through Bill’s work with the business and Foundation he earned a reputation as one of the game’s finest teachers. He also helped produce several Ripken Baseball instructional products with his brother including the bestselling book Play Baseball The Ripken Way and an instructional DVD series entitled Baseball The Ripken Way. He wrote his own book, State of Play, The Old School Guide To New School Baseball which was published in February 2020. In 2009, Bill served as First Base Coach for Team USA during the World Baseball Classic.
Bill has been an integral part of the MLB Network since its beginning in 2009. He has been nominated for an Emmy Award three times in the Outstanding Sports Personality - Studio Analyst category, winning the coveted national honor in 2016. His regular “Bill’s Blackboard” studio segments on the network are regarded as must-see TV for baseball fans everywhere.
Bill resides with his family in South Carolina.
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Cal Ripken, Jr. is baseball’s all-time Iron Man. He retired from baseball in October 2001 after 21 seasons with his hometown Baltimore Orioles. During his career he was Rookie of the Year, a 19-time All-Star, a 2-time AL MVP and is one of only 10 players in history to amass over 400 home runs and 3,000 hits. In 2007, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
In 1995, Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s Major League record for consecutive games played (2,130) and voluntarily ended his streak on September 20, 1998, after playing 2,632 consecutive games.
Today, Ripken is a successful business leader and philanthropist. He founded Ripken Baseball, the company that runs four youth baseball and softball complexes that hosts thousands of young ballplayers each year. He also owns the Aberdeen IronBirds, a Baltimore Orioles minor league affiliate that plays in his hometown in Maryland.
In 2001, Cal and his family established the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation in memory of the family’s patriarch. Since its inception the Foundation has impacted over 11 million kids in underserved communities. They have constructed and gifted over 119 Youth Development Parks in 27 states. These are multi-purpose fields that provide kids with safe places to play and learn. The Foundation has also completed over 465 STEM Centers in 23 states, as well as twenty district-wide elementary and middle school STEM programs.
Since 2007, Cal has served as a Special Public Diplomacy Envoy to the U.S. State Department and has traveled internationally on goodwill trips using baseball to bring people together. And since 2015, Ripken has been a Special Adviser to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on youth programs and outreach.
Cal resides in Annapolis with his wife, the Honorable Laura Ripken.