High fiving someone who’s as tall as Cal Ripken, Jr. is quite the challenge, but these uncommon kids just asked, “Why not?”
On August 11th, we opened our 25th Youth Development Park. This was special to us because it means we are halfway to our goal of transforming 50 communities across the country through 50 Youth Development Parks. While each park is meaningful for the impact it will have for kids in these communities, this one was special.
Monday was our first ever Cal, Sr. Day. And the grand opening was for Vi Ripken Field at Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Park in the Ripken family’s hometown of Aberdeen, Maryland. We were able to honor an uncommon coach/dad and an uncommon community leader/mom by giving kids in Aberdeen a clean, safe place to play.
Vi Ripken, Cal Ripken, Jr., Bill Ripken, and other members of the Ripken family threw out the first pitches, caught by 5 kids from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford County. Afterwards, all the kids learned some pitching skills and played Quickball with members of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, Maryland National Guard, and AmeriCorps NCCC.
And if that weren’t enough, when we asked our community-based partners all across the country if they would help us celebrate Cal, Sr. Day—boy, did they answer the call! In addition to Maryland festivities, kids and mentors celebrated #CalSrDay in Mississippi, Wisconsin, Florida, Washington, Texas, Ohio, Connecticut, North Carolina, and many places in between!
On August 11th, kids across the country were playing baseball with police officers and firefighters, playing Quickball, playing Quickball with water balloons, cleaning up their neighborhoods, bringing communities together, and basically enjoying all the activities and life lessons that Cal Ripken, Sr. shared with his kids and his players.
Thank you to everyone who made the first ever Cal, Sr. Day one to remember!