This Baseball Legend Lived in Tri-Cities!
If you listen in to a Tri-City Dust Devils broadcast with Chris King, you're bound to score on some cool information.
We were working a game one night, and as he always does; he laid down some information during a slow at-bat. He talked about the 1965 Tri-City Atoms, managed by Cal Ripken, Sr. Ripken, of course is the father of Hall of Famer and Baseball's Iron Man, Cal Ripken, Jr. This fascinated me, as Ripken was my idol growing up.
Cal Ripken would have been 5 when his dad managed the Atoms. There are photographs that picture Cal and Billy with their dad in the team photos. Les Keller, then president of the Aberdeen Pheasants told the Tri-City Herald, “Ripken is an outstanding baseball manager. He is respected by his players and is truly a fine leader. But most of all he is a gentleman whose personality and character made him a most welcome member of our community.”
How cool is it that Tri-Cities is a page in the story of one of the greatest careers in baseball?