Will Cal Ripken Jr make it to the baseball hall of fame this year?
820775
Will the ball drop in Times Square on New Year's?? Rip's nomination is a given, not so much for his record number of consecutive games, but the WAY he played each and every game...with skill, intelligence, and (above all) grace. The irony is that the writers will have two prime examples of ying and yang on the ballots this year...Ripken and Gwynn vs. McGwire and Canseco. Two men who showed us how this game SHOULD be played vs. two men who showed us how this game could be "played." \n\nRipkin was a first ballot HOF lock even before his final season. The way he carried himself during the swan song made him legendary. He may well end up as one of the highest vote-getters in the past few decades, if not in the history of the HOF balloting.
309992
I often try to predict this myself, for all sports, but especially for baseball:\n\nI agree with all of your no-brainers, but Biggio (could make it) and Trevor Hoffman (not many relivers have made it, and was he that outstanding?)\nOf your potential HOF'ers:  Off the top, I think Manny is pretty much a no-brainer, and don't believe that Luis Gonzalez or Johnny Damon has much of a shot at all. Many of your others are pretty good picks for this category, though.\n\nI agree with your "close but no cigar" list, and will withhold commentary on the steroid issue.  I haven't sorted that out yet.
506070
I think he has had a young career so far even though he has been playing at a high level for several years.  If he gets to the 10-12 year mark with the same level of play, I think definitely yes.  I am not a Yankees fan, but he is one of the games best SS.  If he stays healthy and plays at this level, he will be one of the games best at that position.
213684
YES.HE WILL DO..\nBUT..\nBEFORE THAT 1 OR 2 CATCHES MUST BE DROPPED..\nYOU CANT FIND HIM HIT 100 WITHOUT HIS CATCHES DROPPED..
650159
At 38, he's approaching it, if not there yet. Too bad he suffered all those injuries in his career. He could have been a great ballplayer. With 538 HRs, he'll most likely get voted into the Hall of Fame. Not on the first ballot, however. Chances are, he might last for another five years, if he agrees to be traded to the AL to DH.
321370
I believe that the average pension is calculated according to the length of the career.  there is no set amount.  Cal Ripken's pension is more than Jose Canseco's.
972729
Using baseball oracle software, I assembled a game by game line score for Ripken showing every game of his career, and exported the data into an Excel spreadsheet.\n\nOn June 4, 1998, the Orioles played the Boston Red Sox. It was the Oriole's 59th game of the season.\n\nIt was the 2,602nd game of Ripken's career, and the 2,537th consecutive game in his streak, which ended at 2,632  in Sept of  1998.\n\nRipken went 1 for 3 in that game against the Red Sox. Boston won the game, 9-1. The game was played in Boston.\n\nRetro sheet is an excellent site btw...it will give you game by game logs for each player, although you wouldn't have any way of knowing whether a player missed a game or not...in other words, it will give you a game by game line score for Ripken, but if he misses a game, that game won't be listed in his record.\n\nFYI, Ripken's streak began on May 30, 1982. On 5/29/82, Ripken played in the first, but not in the second, game of a doubleheader. The game which began his streak (on 5/30) was the 46th game of the season for the Orioles.\n\nHis streak ended after playing in the 154th game of the season for the Orioles in 1998 (on Sept 19, 1998). He sat out their 155th game of that season, and came back and played in games 156 through 162.\n\nThe first game of the streak was against Toronto.\nThe  final game of his streak was against the Yankees.\n\n\nDuring the streak of 2,632 games, Ripken had 2,832 hits in 10,221 AB for a .277 average, with 380 HR.   He scored 1,493 runs and drove in 1,494 runs. He also drew 1,061 walks.
1103716
Nope...they wont win their division for the first time in about 13 years...wont make it as a wild card...nope, not this year...
1114116
Yeah, probably, at least according to his numbers posted in the steroid/HGH era (ca. 1986 - present).  But then again, considering all that has been discovered over the past two seaons, I have the strong right to wonder if he were/is probably on some illegal performance enhancer himself.  So I would be hesitant to put his name on the top of the list.  In fact, I don't think any player of this same era should have any record in the record books, considering that there is just way too much of a cloud of doubt surrounding just about every single baseball star who has played during this period.  \n\nPersonally, I find it kind of strange that Clemens seemed to be on the decline of his career in the early-to-mid 90s only to re-surface as an amazingly dominant pitcher again a few years later with Toronto.  I mean, the Red Sox must have known that he was on his way out -- sure, teams make mistakes all the time (and the 1990s Red Sox weren't exactly the smartest team around), but not to the point where an organization would have been so entirely, utterly wrong about the future of a franchise player.  It's all just too fishy.  So, that said, I don't think we can ever really judge the extent of Clemens' "greatness".  Which, by the way, is the same reason why I'm not sure how easy it is to gauge any player's "greatness", because many "great" players have either found ways around the rules (corked bats, spit-ball pitchers, etc.) or have just benefitted from favorable conditions unavailable to players of other generations (such as pitchers during the dead-ball era, or sluggers during the Coors Field/Jose Canseco "juiced" era).
481145
The face of the team. Like Derek Jeter is the face of the Yankees and Cal Ripken was the face of the O's in his heyday.\n\nIt's the player a GM builds their team around and the go-to guy for reporters...\n\nStuff like that.
401447
That's a good question...\n\nYou're right about Jeter, A-Rod and Randy Johnson... they are all shoe-ins...\n\nAlso, Mariano Rivera will probably be a first ballot Hall of Famer (as will those other guys)...\n\nI think Bernie Williams has a shot, because the Yankees have just been so successful during his career. Plus, he has great post-season numbers...\n\nGiambi might qualify based on his career numbers (by the time he retires). It will depend on how the electors view the steroids issue, we won't really know that for a few years yet...\n\nPosada, again, it will depend on what kind of career numbers he puts up, but he also has an outside shot, due to the team success of the Yankees during his career. If they win a couple more Championships while he's still catching, it will improve his chances greatly. I'm not sure how many All Star games Posada has played in, but that could also be a factor if he makes the All Star team enough times...\n\nWith Mussina, as with any pitcher, we'll have to see what kind of career numbers he puts up. He's 37 right now, with a career record of 224-127, a fine .638 winning percentage, and he's almost 100 games over 500.  His ERA of 3.64 is ok considering the era he's pitching in... I don't think his career record quite puts him in yet, but if he can stay healthy, he might be able to get close to 300 wins and 3,000 strikeouts (he now has 2,400).  It will also help if he gets a ring or two...\n\nSheffied, again, depends on Steroid Issue... He'll have the numbers, I think... he and Mussina are both still playing well...\n\n\nFrankly, Don Mattingly's career #s of 2,153 hits, 222 home runs, 1,099 RBI are really not HOF caliber, especially for a first baseman. Not making it to a World Series hurt him.  A .307 average is good, and I think he's the best Yankee player never to play in a World Series, but the fact that his career was only 1,785 games also hurts.  His chances were hurt even more by the fact that he was "projected" to put much more impressive numbers up than he actually did (there was actually a time when he was projected to be a 3,000, maybe even a 4,000, hit man). He really is not a Hall of Famer, IMO.  He had, in reality, only about six good seasons.  He would have to have kept that quality up for 10 or 12 years to be seriously considered for the HOF.
153095
All time hits king. He deserves to be there,and it's a damn shame that hes not. People make mistakes. If Darryl Strawberry gets a million chances for snorting cocaine over and over again. Pete Rose,one of the greatest hitters ever,deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Bud Selig is an idiot!!!! I am pissed off now that I have to think hes not in the Hall of Fame.
259489
Major League Baseball has a 162 game regular season.  Yes, that's such a marathon season.  The preseason is roughly 30 games or so.  \n\nWith that long of a season, it's incredible that Cal Ripken, Jr. played so many consecutive games (somewhere around 2300 in a row).  Considering the guy barely had a day off between March and the end of September each year, he was definitely dedicated to his work.  In an era of inflated salaries and concern of over-use injuries, few players even make it through one season without missing a game.
54915
No.  The NL West should be as tight as last year, as no team has more than two top tier pitchers.  The Dbacks have Webb and El Duque (orlando hernandez) and Russ Ortiz as well--they'll finish in the middle, probably over .500 even.  The Colorado Rockies will finish last.
481171
No way.  If it took him until April 22 to get his first one, he's not gonna get to 40 this year.\n\nAnd by the way, when his name appears on the Hall of Fame ballot, if I was a voter, I wouldn't vote for him any more than I'd vote for Pete Rose.
751712
No.  I think he's only been to a World Series twice.  2006 MVP was Eckstein and 2003 and Beckett.
32106
he will retire and land in the HOF. He can still pitch but I think he has accomplished all there is it seems and doesn't have much more incentive to go another season.