Ripken Baseball

Starting in January, Ripken Baseball will host the first of four baseball coaching clinics for coaches of youth and high school ballplayers.  Naturally the first will be in Maryland – followed by events in Atlanta, St. Louis, and Cleveland.  Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr., 12-year big league veteran Bill Ripken, and former big league pitcher John Habyan will serve as lead instructors at the University of Maryland (1220 Stamp Student Union, College Park MD) on Saturday, January 15.  This one-day clinic will allow coaches to learn the fundamentals of coaching, as well as the Ripken philosophy of teaching the game of baseball to youth in a supportive and positive manner.

“We are excited to share our clinic with local coaches in the Baltimore area to provide our insights on the fundamentals of the game, as well as our philosophy of teaching the game,” said Cal Ripken, Jr. “We had great feedback from past clinics around the country and are looking forward to helping area coaches make the game fun and engaging for kids while also teaching the essentials.”

The coaching clinic will host hundreds local coaches from across the region and will instruct coaches on the fundamentals of pitching, hitting, and defense. Coaches will receive interactive demonstrations of drills that can be used with their own youth teams, as well as hear insights from legends of the game. 

For addtional information and to sign up, visit www.RipkenBaseball.com

Earlier this week, Cincinnati Reds’ first baseman Joey Votto, and Texas Rangers’ outfielder Josh Hamilton were named Most Valuable Player for their respective leagues.  The awards mark an inspirational turnaround for the duo, each of whom had to overcome personal obstacles in their career.

Hamilton finished the season with 32 homeruns and 100 RBIs, despite missing the final month of the regular season with two broken ribs.  But it was not the injuries that Hamilton had to overcome.  After the Tampa Bay Devil Rays made him the first overall pick in 1999, Hamilton began a downward spiral of addiction that threatened to end his career early.  After a three-year absence from the game, Hamilton regained his sobriety and returned to the Cincinnati Reds – fans acknowledged his road back with a 30-second standing ovation.   He was traded to the Texas Rangers a year later and, last fall, led his club to the 2010 World Series. 

Joey Votto faced similar obstacles in his career – obstacles that were not induced by addiction, but instead by his father’s unexpected death.    After year after his impressive rookie season, Votto entered the World Baseball Classic as Canada’s power-hitting first baseman and his red hot start carried into the first month of the regular season. Then, in May, he started missing games for personal reasons, experiencing anxiety, and was eventually had to be placed on the disabled list for depression.  After missing 31 games that year, he rebounded in 2010 to be selected to the National League All-Star Team, win the Hank Aaron Award, and led the Reds to the postseason for the first time in 15 years.

A well deserved honor for both men – who faced adversity and emerged even stronger.  They are both an excellent example of what persistence and dedication can achieve.  My hat is off to these players, and the rest of the postseason award winners, who helped make the 2010 season memorable.

Last month, we held our first groundbreaking ceremony at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, and now we are excited to head to Fredericksburg, VA to help address the growing needs of the area’s youth.

Starting Monday, The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation will be building the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation Youth Sports and Development Complex. Strategically located in the City of Fredericksburg and easily accessible to both Spotsylvania and Stafford Counties, this facility will become the cornerstone for much of the Foundation’s work in the region. 

The center is designed to use baseball and softball themed programs to address a variety of youth development needs, including character development, health, physical education, culture, and history. The facility will include stations throughout that support the 12 life lessons of the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation’s Healthy Choices, Healthy Children character development curriculum.

The goal is to create three ball fields in partnership with the City of Fredericksburg. One of the fields in the project is being built solely to meet the needs of anyone with a physical or mental disability. 

The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation plans to take this program national over the coming years. Growing up, we were fortunate to learn valuable life lessons on the field, and we’re glad we can give the same opportunity to young players.

The Evil Empire is at it again.

By acquiring Curtis Granderson and now Javier Vazquez, the Yankees have secured their spot atop the AL East going into 2010 and are now the odds-on favorites to go all the way back to the World Series. And I wouldn’t bet against them winning it all again.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I can’t think of a single time in the history of the game that a World Series Champion went into the off-season after winning the title and then acquired a 30-homer guy like Granderson. Playing in New York is a very different atmosphere, and Granderson can be streaky, but if you don’t think he’s going to hit another 30 at that softball field they’ve built in the Bronx, then you’re kidding yourself. The Yanks have taken an already potent offense, and made it even stronger.

And that offense takes a lot of pressure off the starting rotation, which now has Javier Vazquez filling in the four spot. This is a guy who placed fourth in the voting for the NL Cy Young this year, and he’s going to be penciled in at the back-end of the Yankee rotation. Vazquez won’t post a 2.8 ERA against the lineups he’ll be facing in the AL East, but he won’t need to with that Yankee offense behind him.

By adding both Granderson and Vazquez, the Yanks have no doubt increased the chances of polishing off their 2010 season with another parade through the Canyon of Heroes.

And who’s to say they’re done? Left field is still wide open for the Yanks, and I don’t really think that Damon is in the mix. Will they give Gardner a chance to play every day out there, or will the Yankees delve deeper into their wallets for someone like Jason Bay or Matt Holliday – the two biggest free agents still on the market.

I’ve heard the cost to acquire one of those sluggers may be too high, even for the Empire. But I don’t know if I believe that, simply because no one has ever been too expensive for the Yankees.

Less than an hour’s drive from here, you’ll find the new home of Nationals’ top prospect, Stephen Strasburg. He’s been the talk of the town since he was the draft’s number one overall pick this past June. Hell, this kid was the number one overall on the entire planet. Then, the young righty was surrounded by speculation as the Nationals worked out a deal that would satisfy the young player’s veteran agent, Scott Boras.

Even though the Nats have secured the fire-baller with a record deal, the team’s general manager, Mike Rizzo, is heading into the winter meetings with his eyes on acquiring even more quality arms.

With all the hype surrounding Strasburg, I think the Nats are in a very unique position. Strasburg is the caliber of pitcher that they don’t need to baby him around in the minors, fretting over when he’ll be ready to come up to the big show.

Pitchers at the Major League level are paid to win games. It’s as simple as that, and I think Strasburg is ready to win some games for the Nats. While I understand the desire to ease guys into the bigs, I don’t like to see unwritten rules that bar a guy from coming up until he passes some arbitrary deadline.

Come the end of spring training, Rizzo will look at his lineup of pitchers and he’ll have to decide the 11-or-so hurlers he wants to start the season with. I’m willing to bet that Strasburg is well within that top-11, and I think that earns him the right to skip the minors and get right to business earning his monster salary.

Rizzo will have to determine if Strasburg has the right make-up and a strong enough mentality to perform at the highest level and really help his club out. But I really think Strasburg already shows signs of having what it takes.

Does he give the Nats a better chance to win? I’d say so, and I don’t see any need to have an arm of that quality just biding time in the minors.