Cal Ripken Jr. was a part of Fox’s coverage of the 2023 MLB All-Star Game at T-Mobile Park in Seattle on Tuesday night, which led him to make an interesting revelation.
The All-Star Game was being held in Seattle for the first time since 2001. The 2001 All-Star Game was the last for Ripken, who made an absurd 19 All-Star teams during his 21-season career.
During that season, Alex Rodriguez was at the top of his game and had taken over as the top young shortstop in MLB. He had a magnanimous gesture and insisted Ripken play shortstop to begin the game, while Rodriguez moved to third base (which later became A-Rod’s actual position with the Yankees). The move resulted in a standing ovation.
Ripken, who was 40 at the time and had moved to third base full-time in 1997, revealed on Tuesday that he was ticked at Rodriguez for moving positions and forcing the veteran to play shortstop.
“Now that you brought it back up, I was kind of pi–ed at you,” Ripken admitted. “I was like looking at it, I hadn’t [played shortstop] in a while. I got this big ‘ol glove on my hand, I go, ‘how am I going to go back over there, turn a double play?'”
Rodriguez said that he was a fan of Ripken. He deferred to the legend out of respect. In the video above, you can see Ripken mouth “I can’t play shortstop” when Rodriguez suggested the position switch. Ripken felt he no longer had the range for the more difficult defensive position.
Fans likely also remember Ripken hitting a home run in the third inning of the game. Ripken had received a standing ovation prior to his at-bat since it was his last All-Star Game. Chan Ho Park grooved a 92-mph pitch down the middle for him, and Ripken parked it for a dinger. The Iron Man took home game MVP honors after hitting that home run.
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