Fans Are Bashing Ripken : Oriole Shortstop Is Not Exempt From Criticism

BALTIMORE —  No wonder players say they never listen to talk radio shows. How could they stand to?

Take the other day, on a Baltimore radio station. The subject, believe it or not, was “Cal Bashing,” attacking the Orioles’ Cal Ripken Jr.

A woman named Mary got things rolling after someone had nominated Cal for Most Valuable Oriole.

“He’s the Most Disappointing Oriole,” Mary insisted.

She went on to say Cal should be batting 30 points higher, that he doesn’t hit with runners in scoring position (especially with the bases loaded), and that Mark Belanger and Luis Aparicio were much better shortstops.

“Frank Robinson rates Cal one of the two best baserunners on the club,” the station’s host informed Mary.

“Who you kidding?” she snapped. “He can’t run. He’s too big.”

“You have to admit,” Vair said, “Cal does play an important leadership role.”

“Come off it!” Mary said. “Just watch him out there. He doesn’t talk to anybody. He’s no leader.”

Having trashed the Orioles’ only sacred cow, Mary hung up. For the next 30 minutes, other callers raged on about the subject.

What are things coming to when the Orioles’ only perennial All-Star is roughed up in his own town?

Here’s a guy, Cal Jr., who plays every inning of every game at a demanding position like shortstop, going errorless in his last 45 games, and who also has 21 home runs and 90 runs batted in.

Merely being out there for 1,241 consecutive games is leadership of the highest order.

And yet . . .

Cal’s batting average is slip-sliding away as the season comes to a conclusion. After going 2 for 26 in his last seven games, he’s down to .260. The way things look, he’ll finish in the .250s.

He’s batting .258 with men in scoring position. With the bases loaded, he’s 1 for 14 including his strikeout against Detroit Wednesday night.

This would have been an ideal year for Cal to win the American League’s Most Valuable Player Award, which he also won in 1983.

The Orioles have had an amazing year, and Cal is their best. But nobody wins the MVP award batting .250.

Cal hit over .300 twice, in ’83 and ’84. He hit .282 in ’85 and ’86. He hit a career-low .252 in ’87 and .264 last year. His extra base hits are declining.

What’s the problem?

Every fan has an answer, the most popular being that Cal is simply worn down. Maybe he is, but with the club only one game behind Toronto and each game weighing a ton, the last thing Ripken is going to get is a rest.

People on the club don’t like to talk about Cal’s negatives. They respect him too much for what he is--a great, dedicated athlete who does a heroic job for this team.

One man with the expertise to explain Ripken’s problems is Tom McCraw, the club’s batting instructor. To him there is no mystery.

“This has been an adjusting year for Cal,” says McCraw, who has been in professional baseball for 30 years, 15 as a coach or instructor.

“It was different when Cal had Eddie Murray hitting behind him, but when we went into this season we had only two proven hitters--Cal and Phil Bradley, and Bradley is more of a top-of-the-order guy.

“Nobody knew that Mickey Tettleton could hit 25 home runs. Nobody knew that Craig Worthington could be a 75-RBI man. Nobody knew what Randy Milligan could do.

“So Cal felt he had to pull the whole wagon himself. He expanded his strike zone. He was overanxious, swinging at bad pitches. It was like having one Willie Mays on the club.”

Ripken’s “expanded” strike zone seems to be reflected in his 51 walks, which is half his 1988 total. That includes a season-high three Wednesday night.

McCraw believes it has been “a relief” to Cal to see players like Mike Devereaux, Milligan and Worthington deliver.

“It takes a year to prove you can play in the big leagues,” McCraw said. “These guys started off well, then the other clubs went to school on them and their averages dropped, and then our hitters adjusted and their averages crept back up. Devereaux went way down, under .240, at one point, but he’s back up near .270 now.”