With 98.53% of the first ballot Hall of Fame votes, Cal Ripken, Jr.’s stature as a player is unquestioned among players and fans alike. His ability was instrumental in redefining the profile of shortstop, making it viable for bigger, more powerful athletes. Whenever asked, Alex, Derrick, and Nomar all credit Cal as their inspiration.

Capping an unforgettable Hall of Fame Weekend, Cal and Tony Gwynn were inducted on July 29^th before a record crowd of about 75,000 in Cooperstown. The electric atmosphere produced some of the most memorable moments in the history of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, highlighted by inspirational remembrances from both Cal and Tony. Also in attendance were a record 53 of the 61 living members of the Hall of Fame. For more great coverage, visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame website, and to stay up-to-date, be sure to subscribe to its free email newsletter.

We’re glad to be able to sponsor Baseball Almanac’s statistical profile of Cal’s career. The Almanac provides year-by-year statistics, records, notable achievements, post-season stats, quotes about Cal, and more. It’s a terrific site; most of the data presented are cross-linked, so you can access similar data about the players who rank near Cal. You can click around for hours.

We thought it would be fun to know where a game you might have seen fit within one of the most famous events of modern baseball, the “Streak.” We were working on a page, a listing of each game with a couple of highlights, which we thought would be unique to this site. But we found a similar page with more details than we could have hoped to compile. IronEight has signed on as sponsor for the Baseball-Reference Cal Ripken, Jr. "Streak" page, so dig up your ticket stubs and see where your game fit into Cal’s milestone record.

The good people at Retrosheet deserve our thanks and continued support for compiling and maintaining extensive records that they make available to fans at their website.

Here are a few Cal Ripken, Jr. career highlights:

Briefly: By the Numbers

1 AL Rookie of the Year
1 1995 SI "Sportsman of the Year"
2 AL MVP
2 MLB All-Star Game MVP
2 Gold Glove Award
8 Silver Slugger Awards
15 Most MLB All-Star Game appearances at shortstop
16 Most consecutive MLB All-Star Game starts
98.53 Percentage of HOF votes
431 Home runs
1,682 Most double plays by an AL shortstop
1,695 RBIs
2,632 Consecutive games played
3,001 Games played
3,184 Hits
5,168 Total bases
8,212 Assists
8,243 Consecutive innings played
36.12 Million MLB All-Star fan votes

MLB Records Held

Most consecutive games played, 2,632
Most double plays by a shortstop, American League, 1,682
Most home runs by a shortstop, 345
Tied AL record for leading shortstops in assists for seven years, with Luis Aparicio and Luke Appling
Fewest errors in a season by a shortstop, 3
Most consecutive games played in one position, shortstop, 2,216
Tied for most years leading the MLB in putouts by a shortstop for six years, with Rabbit Maranville
AL most assists for season by a shortstop, 583, in 1984
AL most double plays by a shortstop, career 1,565

Baltimore Orioles Records Held

Most games played, 3,001 (MLB rank 10^th)
Most consecutive games, 2,632
Most at bats, 11,551
Most runs, 1,647
Most hits, 3,184
Most doubles, 603
Most home runs, 431
Most total bases, 5168
Most RBI, 1,695
Most extra base hits, 1078

The Quintessential All-Star

Led the fan balloting four times, 1985, 1986, 1992, 1995
All-time leader in MLB All-Star Game fan balloting, 36,123,483
Most MLB All-Star Game appearances at shortstop, 15, in 1983-1996, 2001
Most consecutive MLB All-Star Game starts, 16
MLB All-Star Game MVP, 1991, 2001

Awards

1982: American League Rookie of the Year

1983: American League Most Valuable Player
1983: American League Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award
1983: Most Valuable Oriole Award (co-named with Eddie Murray)
1983: Associated Press Major League All-Star Team
1983: The Sporting News Player of the Year

1984: American League Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award
1984: Associated Press Major League All-Star Team

1985: American League Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award
1985: Associated Press Major League All-Star Team

1986: American League Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award
1986: Associated Press Major League All-Star Team

1988: Most Valuable Oriole Award (co-named with Eddie Murray)

1989: American League Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award
1989: Bart Giamatti Caring Award
1989: Associated Press Major League All-Star Team

1990: Most Valuable Oriole Award

1991: American League Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award
1991: American League Most Valuable Player
1991: MLB All-Star Game Most Valuable Player
1991: American League Rawlings Gold Glove Award
1991: Most Valuable Oriole Award
1991: Associated Press Major League All-Star Team
1991: The Sporting News Player of the Year

1992: American League Rawlings Gold Glove Award
1992: Roberto Clemente Award
1992: Lou Gehrig Memorial Award

1993: American League Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award
1993: Associated Press Major League All-Star Team

1994: American League Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award

1995: Sports Illustrated magazine's “Sportsman of the Year”
1995: Associated Press Major League All-Star Team

1999: The Sporting News ranked Cal number 78 of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players
1999: Elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team

2001: MLB All-Star Game Most Valuable Player
2001: Ranked third greatest shortstop of all time in The New Bill James Historical Abstract
2001: Uniform number retired by the Baltimore Orioles

2007: Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by 98.53 percent of voters, the highest percentage of votes ever for a position player.