an even top 50? that way we can put Mike Devereaux, Pete Incaviglia, and uhmm.. okay, so we don't have enough quality players to make a top 50 list.. I get it.

(I do like dev and inky though)

I know it's not politically correct to say anything bad about King Ripken, but we are talking about the most over-rated player in major league history.  My Lord, it's not even close!  So he played in 2600 straight games, so what?  Were you here during that streak?  Don't you know that streak was incredibly divisive?  Everyone says what a great guy Ripken was for showing up everyday and playing, and there is much to be said for that, but dont you know that in a great many games of that streak, he simply did not deserve to play, that a great many times, he hurt his team?  I would have more respct for the guy if, instead of going out there no matter what his physical condition was, he said, "I'm going to sit because I'm not helping the team right now?" Ripken's streak became the guiding light for many decisions made by the team, from choosing the manager to deciding what players to sign.  Davey Johnson was hired for the main reason that he was the only guy with enough of a resume to tell Ripken to sit down, and hence, Ripken did sit out some innings and even played 3B for a while in 1996.  Regan couldn't do it, maybe Oates could have, but Johnson did.  And how about our hero's comments about Mike Bordick.  When Bordick was signed from Oakland before the '97 season, Ripken said that it was only for a guy like Bordick that he would move fulltime to 3B, no one else met Ripken's criteria.  And how about poor Manny Alexander?  No one is going to mistake Alex for Derek Jeter, but the facts are that Ripken treated him like crap, never offering support or encouragement and indeed doing what he could to discourage the young SS.  These facts are documented in Sun stories of the period and also from first hand knowledge from press people(I was one of them, radio reporter) who saw this first hand.  Ripken made Alex feel uncomfortable and did much to see that he would not reach his potential.  All because Alexander had the temerity to play SS and maybe, just maybe be the heir apparent.  People in the know understood that Ripken's comments about Bordick were a side shot at Alexander.  And all Alex was was a young player trying to get his start.  He did manage to play 21 games at SS in Davey's first year, but he was gone to the NL after that.  Ripken did have a pretty good year in '96, .278/26/102, but too many times in the past Sir Cal failed when the club needed him the most.  Take the "why Not" year of 1989. When the Birds were in a death struggle with BoSox for the AL East title, what did our hero do in the last month of the season? Why he hit a cool .204 with 3 HR and 15 RBI in the last 31 games. His OPS was a wonderful 641.  Way to go, Cal.  When the team needed yo the most, you weren't there.  In the second half, he hit 237 with and OPS of .678, worthy of the best three-hole hitters in the game.  For the season, he went 257/21/93, OPS of 718.  One HR and three RBI came in the the first game, and I will admit his three run jack in the seasons opening game off of Clemens probably set the tone for the year.  He didnt do anything the next year, but neither did the team.  But in 1991 really tells the tale of Ripken's worth.  An MVP year!  Wow.  But the club finished in last place, how valuable was he?  Who can forget the HR in the All-Star game?  He had truly a great year, one of the best ever for a SS, maybe the best ever.  But there was no pressure.  At least the year before he could blame(and he did) his troubles on his contract talks, before signiing his $40 million deal.  And he produced in '91. So everyone thought he was gonna have a great year in the first one at OPACY.  Yeah, right. 1992 was likely his worst year ever. The Birds were once again surprise contenders for the East, but where was Ripken?  The team was within a half game as late as September 5, when they finsihed a seven game win streak with a win over California.  After that, the Orioles went 12-15 and Ripken, while hitting 286, hit just 4 HR and drove in just 12 runs in the last 25 games, finishing the year with a 251/14/72 and a 689 OPS, his SLG dropped 200 points from the year before! Not acceptable from the team leader. But did he take off a game or two, or even move to DH?  Hell, no! Not this guy. After that, for the next few years, the team foundered and so did Ripken, until Davey took over in '96 and led the team to the playoffs in '96 and '97.  By that time, Ripken was no longer counted on to be the big gun and he had the nice year in '96, not so nice in '97, and even worse in '98 and the streak ended in '99.  His range was above league average most of those years, to be fair, and despite his lessening skills at the plate, even his last year as a full time SS, his range factor was above league average.  His first year at 3B he had 22 errors and a 949 FP, both below league average, but that can be excused due to a 36 year old player moving to a new position, his next year and his last as a full time player in '98, he had a very good defensive year.  But the steady decline in his offensive stats, his failures in the clutch during some of the O's big years, and yes I know he legitimately won the MVP in '83(not in '91) shows that for all the bluster of this guy, he just didn't live up to it, except for the streak. And for that, he is deified and I beleive he didn't warrant such deification, not when he hurt the team by continuing to play when frankly, he just didnt deserve too.  And I won't go into matters off the field. I will just say that his complex in Maryland has a Marriot Hotel to serve as the Warehouse in right field for the showcase field, AKA Cal Sr's yard.  But how does Ripken support the people that built the hotel?  He does commercials for Holiday Inn.  Nice. And dont get me started on the 90 foot diamond that hasnt been built for the past three years.  Tourney teams that play 13 and above baseball have to go to HCC or into Havre de Grace or to Aberdeen HS to play on a 90-foot diamond.  Only the semi's and champs play in the big field, Ripken stadium, home of the Ironbirds.  Dont think the visiting teams dont notice this.  All I'm saying is, before we annoit this guy the number one Oriole(my choice is number 5, followed by number 33 and number 22) just do some research and get the whole story and not just the surface.  

ahufaifehuiaegfjfejk
dafjafefe

that's what happened when i hit my head on the keyboard from reading that crap

i know a lot of folks that are statistically inclined talk shit about cal based on the streak, but jay jaffe at bp has developed the JAWS system for evaluating HoFers and the average JAWS number for a shortstop is 89.7.  cal's JAWS number is 129.7 (by comparison, tony fernandez, the darling of the sporting press during most of cal's career has a JAWS of 88).