'Sun' Execs Discuss Cal Ripken Jr.'s New Sports Column

By: Dave Astor Retired baseball great Cal Ripken Jr. played in 2,632 consecutive games for the Baltimore Orioles. Now he has written four consecutive columns for The Sun of Baltimore.

"Ask Cal" -- which answers questions about youth sports -- began Oct. 23. It appears each Sunday in the newspaper's "Modern Life" section as well as on BaltimoreSun.com. The column has also been offered to other Tribune Co. newspapers, although none have opted to use it yet, according to Steve Sullivan, executive news editor/multimedia at The Sun.

Sullivan told E&P that Ripken has been receiving about 20 questions a week so far. "They're coming from all over the place," he said, including Maryland, Florida, New York, California, Illinois, and Connecticut.

Randy Harvey, assistant managing editor/sports at The Sun, recalled that the column started soon after Ripken Baseball executive John Maroon phoned to ask what he thought of the idea. Sullivan noted that Ripken had written a summer 2005 column for The Sun marking the 10th anniversary of breaking Lou Gehrig's then-record streak of playing in 2,130 consecutive games.

Sullivan doesn't think a ghostwriter is answering questions in the new column. "My assumption is that Cal does it," he said. "I remember John [Maroon] once calling to say Cal and his wife were out of town on a trip and could Cal have more time" before sending in a column.

Ripken's feature discusses a number of youth sports, not just baseball. "I've been real happy with the variety of questions," said Sullivan.

Some queries concern more than one sport. For instance, the Nov. 13 column included a request for advice from a parent who thought his son was making a mistake by quitting basketball this winter to concentrate on baseball. Part of Ripken's response: "Let the decision be his but make sure that you are presenting all of the issues to him so he can make a smart and well-thought-out decision. When I was in high school, I made a choice to not play basketball and I did it because I was recruited to play winter soccer. Well, honestly that was only part of the reason. The other reason was the whole 'shirts vs. skins' way of differentiating teams. I was underdeveloped physically at that time and was embarrassed. A simple thing like reversible shirts would have kept me in basketball. To this day, I regret that decision. ..."

Sullivan said Ripken "looks out for both the kids and the parents" with advice that is "thoughtful and respectful."

Harvey, who looks at "Ask Cal" before it's published, said of the column: "As a parent of an eight-year-old who's active in youth sports, I like it a lot."