Kory: Cal Ripken: the greatest shortstop wasn’t short
From Matthew Kory at The National Pastime Museum on July 12, 2017:
Cal Ripken was 6 feet, 4 inches tall. That made him much larger than most shortstops of his time, who were like hummingbirds—small, twitchy, and designed for speed and quickness. Shortstops were your prototypical defense-first bat handlers, guys who hit second in a lineup because, the thought process went, they could move the leadoff hitter into scoring position. That, plus good defense, and there [wipes hands]—you’ve solved the shortstop issue.
Cal Ripken, however, didn’t fit the prototype. In fact, he was the polar opposite. He towered over his fellow keystones, and though you would never have called him muscle-bound, he probably could have bench-pressed his positional opponent on any given day. He was as different as he could be.
Read the full article here: https://www.thenationalpastimemuseum.com/article/cal-ripken-jr-greatest-shortstop-wasn-t-short
Originally published: July 12, 2017. Last Updated: July 12, 2017.