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CNN Live Today
Interview With Cal Ripken
Aired August 04, 2003 - 11:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Cal Ripken Jr. spent 20 priceless seasons on the field for the Baltimore Orioles. Now he's pitching a Priceless Edge for MasterCard. It's an internship program that puts a dozen sports business students in the front office of two major league ballclubs for the summer. What a great opportunity. The teams involved in the Priceless Edge internships are the New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Cal Ripken Jr. joins us. He is in New York this morning to talk about the internship as well as some other baseball news. Cal, good morning. It's great to see you.
CAL RIPKEN JR., : Good morning, Daryn. Nice to see you.
KAGAN: Something tells me that you wouldn't be sitting on the couch eating bon bons after hanging up the baseball cleats.
RIPKEN: No, I'm trying to transition into the business world. But you know I knew how hard it was to be a baseball player for all those years. You know, this many people want to be a baseball player growing up, this many people actually become that. Now that I've flipped into a suit, and I'm in the business world, I'm an owner with the team, I've found out how hard it is to actually get into the sports business.
That's what attracted me to this opportunity here. MasterCard created an internship program where they actually give the opportunity to get the foot in the door to the college kids where they can come in and have an opportunity to get their hands dirty, so to speak, and get right in there and learn it from the inside as opposed to just learning from the books.
So that attracted me and I think it's a great program.
KAGAN: Good for them. You know there's a lot of kids out probably watching right now saying, Yes, give me a chance. How do they find out if they want to do it?
RIPKEN: Well we just finished the program here where we had -- since the season's over and it's going back -- so we had six kids in, I think you said the New York Mets and six kids in St. Louis. But now we're going to gear all back up again.
So you can go online, MasterCard.com, you can actually take a business course on there and go through the course and find information, how you can become eligible, you know, for next year.
KAGAN: OK, great.
Since we have you here, we wanted to use your advice and have you make a call for us, OK? And this concerns a game that was played last night, actually played yesterday. It was the Braves and the Dodgers. Newly-acquired Robin Ventura at the plate. Hits it towards center field. And that's where Darren Bragg is. And if we can roll that tape -- do you have a monitor? Did you see this in the highlights?
Watch Darren Bragg in center field. Huge effort. Goes for the glove, into his hand. Now he's showing the ump that he has the ball. But they made the call that it actually it hit the wall and that led the way for Robin Ventura -- who's not the fastest guy in the game, you know, to get in the park home run.
RIPKEN: Well from my view, and from the first glance, and this is at high speed, it looks like he did make the catch. But I would imagine since you already know, they probably slowed it down you could actually see the ball hit the wall and come off and he catch it in his bare hand. Is that true?
KAGAN: Well, they stuck by their call that it hit the wall. So they're going with that.
RIPKEN: Let's slow it down. It looks like he caught it to me.
KAGAN: Huge effort if nothing else.
RIPKEN: His glove hit the wall and it was half-way in his glove when he picked it up with his bare hand. I'd give him the catch.
KAGAN: Oh, you'd give him the catch. Well Dodgers went on to win 8-4 so he made plenty of highlight reels and made CNN's so I guess that will be his claim to fame for the day, filling in at center field for Andruw Jones.
Let's talk about the state of the game a little bit. You know people were so excited during the time, especially when you were making a run for your record. People really psyched about baseball. But I was checking online today, "Sporting News" is running a poll asking sports fans -- and if you're looking at "Sporting News" you're a hardcore sports fan -- are you more excited about Major League Baseball stretched run or are you more excited about the start of the NFL season, which is in the dregs of preseason games?
Cal, 80 percent of the fans said they're more excited about the NFL right now.
RIPKEN: Well, I guess you could read a lot into that. I mean football's done a good job and the excitement of their season's coming in.
But the pennant races are just starting to heat up. And maybe if you take the poll in September you start to get a little bit different feel as -- because we still have two months to go in the season.
And the nature of baseball, it is a long season and does require a lot of your attention and it doesn't build towards a crescendo towards the end. So maybe the poll was take a little bit early. Maybe people feel different in September.
I have a very optimistic view from where I sit. I mean I deal with kids in the grassroots level and there's a great excitement for baseball. and I think one of great things that I'm taking on after being out of baseball is a role of promoting and actually saying how good the game of baseball is.
When Babe Ruth renamed their lower division after me, now have Cal Ripken Baseball worldwide, it's a tremendous opportunity to really impact at the grassroots level of baseball. And I see a certain level of excitement that makes you feel really good inside that baseball's going in the right direction.
So maybe I'm looking at it from a different perspective. But, you know, major sports are in competition with each other. Football competes with the baseball and baseball competes with basketball. There are crossovers in that part of that season.
KAGAN: And as you're saying, it is a business at the end of the day.
RIPKEN: Absolutely.
KAGAN: It's a fun game but (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- do you miss the playing days?
RIPKEN: You know what? I think I might be one of the few guys that said I had my fill in between the white lines. I mean I played nearly every single day for 21 years. I don't miss the competitions between Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez. I don't miss actually making a play on the field.
I do miss some of the friendships you make and being part of a team and being in the clubhouse and the dugout. But I can get that in other places.
So I'm surprised. I've surprised myself as when they went to spring training for the first time I thought I would be crushed. I thought they would leave without me and I'd really miss it and I'd regret what I did. But I don't. So it must have been the right move.
KAGAN: Well good for you. I know a lot of fans do miss you and appreciate the opportunity to see you and your efforts to get young people opportunities, not just on the field but in the office, in the front office as well. So thank you for being with us.
RIPKEN: Thanks, Daryn. Tell Leon I said hello.
KAGAN: I absolutely will do that. And he'll appreciate the regards. Cal Ripken Jr., thanks very much.
RIPKEN: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 4, 2003 - 11:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Cal Ripken Jr. spent 20 priceless seasons on the field for the Baltimore Orioles. Now he's pitching a Priceless Edge for MasterCard. It's an internship program that puts a dozen sports business students in the front office of two major league ballclubs for the summer. What a great opportunity. The teams involved in the Priceless Edge internships are the New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Cal Ripken Jr. joins us. He is in New York this morning to talk about the internship as well as some other baseball news. Cal, good morning. It's great to see you.
CAL RIPKEN JR., : Good morning, Daryn. Nice to see you.
KAGAN: Something tells me that you wouldn't be sitting on the couch eating bon bons after hanging up the baseball cleats.
RIPKEN: No, I'm trying to transition into the business world. But you know I knew how hard it was to be a baseball player for all those years. You know, this many people want to be a baseball player growing up, this many people actually become that. Now that I've flipped into a suit, and I'm in the business world, I'm an owner with the team, I've found out how hard it is to actually get into the sports business.
That's what attracted me to this opportunity here. MasterCard created an internship program where they actually give the opportunity to get the foot in the door to the college kids where they can come in and have an opportunity to get their hands dirty, so to speak, and get right in there and learn it from the inside as opposed to just learning from the books.
So that attracted me and I think it's a great program.
KAGAN: Good for them. You know there's a lot of kids out probably watching right now saying, Yes, give me a chance. How do they find out if they want to do it?
RIPKEN: Well we just finished the program here where we had -- since the season's over and it's going back -- so we had six kids in, I think you said the New York Mets and six kids in St. Louis. But now we're going to gear all back up again.
So you can go online, MasterCard.com, you can actually take a business course on there and go through the course and find information, how you can become eligible, you know, for next year.
KAGAN: OK, great.
Since we have you here, we wanted to use your advice and have you make a call for us, OK? And this concerns a game that was played last night, actually played yesterday. It was the Braves and the Dodgers. Newly-acquired Robin Ventura at the plate. Hits it towards center field. And that's where Darren Bragg is. And if we can roll that tape -- do you have a monitor? Did you see this in the highlights?
Watch Darren Bragg in center field. Huge effort. Goes for the glove, into his hand. Now he's showing the ump that he has the ball. But they made the call that it actually it hit the wall and that led the way for Robin Ventura -- who's not the fastest guy in the game, you know, to get in the park home run.
RIPKEN: Well from my view, and from the first glance, and this is at high speed, it looks like he did make the catch. But I would imagine since you already know, they probably slowed it down you could actually see the ball hit the wall and come off and he catch it in his bare hand. Is that true?
KAGAN: Well, they stuck by their call that it hit the wall. So they're going with that.
RIPKEN: Let's slow it down. It looks like he caught it to me.
KAGAN: Huge effort if nothing else.
RIPKEN: His glove hit the wall and it was half-way in his glove when he picked it up with his bare hand. I'd give him the catch.
KAGAN: Oh, you'd give him the catch. Well Dodgers went on to win 8-4 so he made plenty of highlight reels and made CNN's so I guess that will be his claim to fame for the day, filling in at center field for Andruw Jones.
Let's talk about the state of the game a little bit. You know people were so excited during the time, especially when you were making a run for your record. People really psyched about baseball. But I was checking online today, "Sporting News" is running a poll asking sports fans -- and if you're looking at "Sporting News" you're a hardcore sports fan -- are you more excited about Major League Baseball stretched run or are you more excited about the start of the NFL season, which is in the dregs of preseason games?
Cal, 80 percent of the fans said they're more excited about the NFL right now.
RIPKEN: Well, I guess you could read a lot into that. I mean football's done a good job and the excitement of their season's coming in.
But the pennant races are just starting to heat up. And maybe if you take the poll in September you start to get a little bit different feel as -- because we still have two months to go in the season.
And the nature of baseball, it is a long season and does require a lot of your attention and it doesn't build towards a crescendo towards the end. So maybe the poll was take a little bit early. Maybe people feel different in September.
I have a very optimistic view from where I sit. I mean I deal with kids in the grassroots level and there's a great excitement for baseball. and I think one of great things that I'm taking on after being out of baseball is a role of promoting and actually saying how good the game of baseball is.
When Babe Ruth renamed their lower division after me, now have Cal Ripken Baseball worldwide, it's a tremendous opportunity to really impact at the grassroots level of baseball. And I see a certain level of excitement that makes you feel really good inside that baseball's going in the right direction.
So maybe I'm looking at it from a different perspective. But, you know, major sports are in competition with each other. Football competes with the baseball and baseball competes with basketball. There are crossovers in that part of that season.
KAGAN: And as you're saying, it is a business at the end of the day.
RIPKEN: Absolutely.
KAGAN: It's a fun game but (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- do you miss the playing days?
RIPKEN: You know what? I think I might be one of the few guys that said I had my fill in between the white lines. I mean I played nearly every single day for 21 years. I don't miss the competitions between Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez. I don't miss actually making a play on the field.
I do miss some of the friendships you make and being part of a team and being in the clubhouse and the dugout. But I can get that in other places.
So I'm surprised. I've surprised myself as when they went to spring training for the first time I thought I would be crushed. I thought they would leave without me and I'd really miss it and I'd regret what I did. But I don't. So it must have been the right move.
KAGAN: Well good for you. I know a lot of fans do miss you and appreciate the opportunity to see you and your efforts to get young people opportunities, not just on the field but in the office, in the front office as well. So thank you for being with us.
RIPKEN: Thanks, Daryn. Tell Leon I said hello.
KAGAN: I absolutely will do that. And he'll appreciate the regards. Cal Ripken Jr., thanks very much.
RIPKEN: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
