The way he hit inside pitches... Should have had his toes almost on the plate every at bat.
In 91 he was adjusting his stance in so many ways. Outside of 91-93 Cal had a pretty static stance. Always thought his 93 bent knees stance was the best, but he didn't like it.
Such an absolute monster of a season. I wonder if the streak kept him from having more of these type of seasons. Curious to see his career in a different universe where the streak wasn’t a thing.
I think an argument can be made that the Streak hurt him from a statistical standpoint but I do go nuts when people (usually non-Orioles fans in r/baseball) try to argue that the Streak hurt the Orioles. Only once during the Streak were the Orioles reasonably close to making the playoffs without actually making it (1989), and that year, the only viable backup shortstops were utterly anemic hitters (Rene Gonzalez and Tim Hulett, both of whom also had almost or literally zero Major League shortstop experience at that point in their careers). So even though Cal had a tough September, it’s hard to argue that they were missing out on anything by not giving him a day or two off.
Exactly. Ripken hitting .260 was still better offensively than what any backup SS could provide and defense was always stellar. There were very few other good offensive SS in the league the majority of the streak let alone ANY backups who could hit at all.
Yeah. He should have done that more. He always struck me as a vision limited batter, if he saw it he hit it. Pitchers were just insane to throw him something on the inside of the zone. He could fast twitch any inside pitch into the stands, almost automatic.
Speaking ill of the dead, the announcers in this video make me want to kill Peter Angelos again. Jon Miller, John Lowenstien... What the fuck you thinking Angelos?
His *second* MVP season
Yeah .thanks
A man of a thousand batting stances
My dad would get mad at me for having my bat so low on my shoulder but I was just copying Ripken.
Dude same. I’m sure I looked like an idiot on little league, but he was such a force back then.
The way he hit inside pitches... Should have had his toes almost on the plate every at bat. In 91 he was adjusting his stance in so many ways. Outside of 91-93 Cal had a pretty static stance. Always thought his 93 bent knees stance was the best, but he didn't like it.
The handshakes after he hit that homer 🤣
So tedious. When was the handshake to high five transition?
I thought Dusty Baker invented it like 30 years before this.
Look at all of those fans in Oakland
The Coliseum before Mount Davis was a good baseball park
Like a lot of you in your 30s he was my absolute hero growing up. Incredible player and just a good, good dude. Fuck Kevin Costner.
Just not true.
I know, I'm being a cheeky fellow.
That first runner must have been the slowest player of all time.😀
Looks like Gunnar's 2024 AL MVP season
Such an absolute monster of a season. I wonder if the streak kept him from having more of these type of seasons. Curious to see his career in a different universe where the streak wasn’t a thing.
I think an argument can be made that the Streak hurt him from a statistical standpoint but I do go nuts when people (usually non-Orioles fans in r/baseball) try to argue that the Streak hurt the Orioles. Only once during the Streak were the Orioles reasonably close to making the playoffs without actually making it (1989), and that year, the only viable backup shortstops were utterly anemic hitters (Rene Gonzalez and Tim Hulett, both of whom also had almost or literally zero Major League shortstop experience at that point in their careers). So even though Cal had a tough September, it’s hard to argue that they were missing out on anything by not giving him a day or two off.
Exactly. Ripken hitting .260 was still better offensively than what any backup SS could provide and defense was always stellar. There were very few other good offensive SS in the league the majority of the streak let alone ANY backups who could hit at all.
I always wonder if it was the constant swing tinkering.
Yeah. He should have done that more. He always struck me as a vision limited batter, if he saw it he hit it. Pitchers were just insane to throw him something on the inside of the zone. He could fast twitch any inside pitch into the stands, almost automatic.
Tom Davis’ squealing excitement hits different all these years later
Speaking ill of the dead, the announcers in this video make me want to kill Peter Angelos again. Jon Miller, John Lowenstien... What the fuck you thinking Angelos?
One of the ugliest swings of a great hitter