What can one write about Cal Ripken that hasn't already been written?
Very little, especially today, the day after baseball's Iron Man announced his retirement at the conclusion of this season. Today is the day to review his greatness, an exercise which will of course be repeated upon his election to the Hall of Fame, and then a few months later upon his induction.
There are those who believe that Cal Ripken "saved baseball," which is certainly an interesting idea, though wholly unsupported by even a shred of evidence. Ripken's Streak, amazing and admirable though it might have been, had little impact on the viability of Major League Baseball as a business enterprise.
That leaves us to fall back on mere evaluations of Ripken as a player. Old ground well-traveled, perhaps, but sometimes the old ground gets buried beneath the well-meaning platitudes of the moment.
So how good was Ripken, as a player?
Let's start with the offensive side of the equation, because that's the easiest to quantify. Below are my picks for the four greatest-hitting shortstops of all-time. Adjusted Batting Runs measure how many runs a player contributes, relative to a league-average player and adjusted for home ballpark. I've also tacked on the Adjusted Batting Runs per 154 games, the length of the schedule prior to 1961.
Years Games BR/A BR/A per 154
Honus Wagner 8 1120 372 51.2
Arky Vaughan 8 1176 293 38.4
Ernie Banks 8 1206 241 30.8
Cal Ripken 8 1293 183 21.8
Nobody remembers Arky Vaughan, but he's in the Hall of Fame and in his eight-year prime -- 1933 through 1940 -- the Pirate shortstop smote the ol' horsehide with great regularity. I focused on eight-year primes because Vaughan played shortstop every day for only 10 years, Banks for only eight.
On the other hand, Wagner was a regular (more or less) at shortstop for 14 seasons, Ripken for 14 and a half. Looking at their entire careers rather than just their peaks, I move Ripken ahead of Banks.
Career Peak
1. Honus Wagner Wagner
2. Arky Vaughan Vaughan
3. Cal Ripken Banks
4. Ernie Banks Ripken
5. Joe Cronin Robin Yount
Again, those ratings consider only hitting, and of course Cal Ripken was more than just a hitter who happened to play shortstop. Ripken won two Gold Gloves, and was generally regarded as a master of defensive positioning. And as we all know, Ripken was, from 1982 through 1998, the most durable player in the history of professional baseball.
So where does Ripken rank among the all-time greats? While it's true that Honus Wagner played in the early part of this century, when it was somewhat easier for one player to dominate his peers, it's also true that Wagner's offensive stats blow away every shortstop in history, and it's true that Wagner was regarded as a superior defensive shortstop.
It's certainly possible that some shortstop, maybe even somebody playing today, will vault past Wagner. Today, though, the choice is clear. Honus Wagner remains the greatest shortstop who ever lived. The choice for No. 2 is not quite so clear, but my vote goes to Cal Ripken.
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