By Greg Fuchs
Spring training baseball is winding down and my birthday is this weekend, which reminds me of the best birthday present I have ever received. As a fellow sports fan, I hope you enjoy hearing my story as much as I enjoy telling it.
To set the table, let it be known that I have been a huge Baltimore Orioles fan since I was 9 years old and I live in South Florida.
From 1996-2009 the Orioles held spring training at Ft. Lauderdale Stadium, so I was in baseball heaven. There was many a day when I would cut out of work early to catch an afternoon spring training game. I would always get a ticket in the right field bleachers, but I never actually sat in the bleachers. Back then you could literally stand behind the bullpen with only a chain-link fence separating the fans from the players. You could reach out and tap the players on the shoulder if you wanted to.
In 1996 Cal Ripken Jr. was still playing for the O’s and his usual spring training game-day routine was to play 5 innings or so and then go down to the right field corner with the team trainer for some stretching and running exercises. Afterwards he would walk over to the right field stands in foul territory and sign autographs for 30 minutes.
My then girlfriend, Christine, who is now my wife, decided she wanted to get Cal’s autograph for me as a birthday present. So, one day, unbeknownst to me, she went to game with a girlfriend. She had purchased a long fold-out birthday card with a little boy with his tongue sticking out swinging a big baseball bat.
Per his usually routine, Cal played 5 innings, went down to rightfield to do his exercises with the trainer and then promptly headed to the dugout. No autographs. What???!!! Christine looked on in disbelief.
But she was not to be deterred. She went back the next day to get Cal’s autograph. Once again it was 5 innings, rightfield for exercises and … straight to the clubhouse. At this point she asked an usher why Cal wasn’t signing autographs anymore and she was told it was for safety reasons. Apparently, there was too many people and kids were getting squashed against the chain-link fence.
But my girlfriend/wife was a determined person. After the game she waited by the players parking lot gate hoping to get Cal’s attention and thus the hoped-for autograph. All she got though was Cal hopping into his car and driving out of the parking lot.
It was at this point that another person, who must have noticed the forlorn expression on her face, asked if everything was alright. She explained that she had hoped to get Cal Ripken’s autograph on a birthday card, but he had just left.
It was at this point that this unknown person said, “I’m Billy Ripken, Cal’s brother. Will I do?”. She excitedly said yes and gave Billy the birthday card to sign. Billy asked how old her son was, whereupon she said she didn’t have a son. The card was for her boyfriend. Now it was Billy’s turn to have a forlorn expression on his face. 😊 But Billy signed the card and even posed for a picture.
A few days later on my birthday I was the proud recipient of a 10” x 30” frame complete with the folded-out birthday card with Billy’s autograph, the picture of Billy, tickets from the 2 games she attended and a picture of her and her girlfriend from the 1st game.
My initial reaction was “This is Cool! Wow, what a great gift. How did you get his autograph?”. When she told me the entire story, I thought that it made the present even more special. And I also thought, maybe I should marry this girl. Which I did a year later.
So, thank you Christine, and Billy too, for a great baseball birthday memory!
