Name: Cal Ripken on the big business of baseball
Uploaded: 2014-08-04
Duration: 4 min 56 s
Description: Baseball Hall of Famer, Cal Ripken, ventured into the business world right after retiring from the MLB. Ripken owns several minor league baseball teams, books, videos and merchandise.

[ MUSIC ] I think Cal Ripken is one of the most respected legends there's ever been. Cal Ripken was dignified, professional. I mean, every virtue of baseball you want applies to Cal Ripken. This guy could have coasted home. He could have slapped his name on a, a couple of products, given some corporate speeches and, and lived a very comfortable life. And I think it's really interesting that he took some of the virtues of baseball and then applied them in business. Cal likes to say that the day after he retired he took off the baseball uniform and had to put on a suit. And he is someone who, among athletes in business has, earned I'd say, a significant amount of credit as being a really savvy businessman. His overall philosophy, I think, is, stick to what you know. And don't get distracted. A lot of guys get into all kinds of deals with old high school friends or with family members. And they end up losing money. But Cal has been especially selective with which deals he agrees to. And with what kind of companies he invest in. Cal's passion is baseball. And he's, you know, and I think that's probably the best word to describe Cal is his passion. Passionate. So the first thing Ripken did is he went into business with his brother. And they purchased the minor league baseball team based in Utica, New York. And moved it to Aberdeen, which is his hometown. They rename it the Aberdeen Ironbirds. And that team is thriving and doing well. The community just rallied around it. You know, it was, it was this big thing here. We were sold out for the first ten years. He quickly, wanted to buy up more teams. I think he bought two more minor league teams. And he thought, this is gonna be it. My business is gonna be in minor league baseball. One of those teams didn't do as well and they had to sell it off and, that's when he realized, well, my real passion is youth baseball. And now he has launched Ripken Baseball, which has a number of different fields, programs going on all year round. And it's very well known and well regarded, and it's growing quickly. Cal has, is trying to create an environment where kids can once again love baseball. When I first sat down with Cal, he pulled out some graph paper and started drawing drills. On a piece of graph paper. And I thought to myself, I'm like, man, who carries graph paper anymore? And then [ LAUGH ] I also thought to myself, I'm like, this is the exact right guy. He's always thinking about baseball. The reason Callison and Minor League got a youth business is because what we're involved in is baseball from all levels. We get to influence. And help kids from age eight all the way to their first taste in minor league baseball. And that's what his vision's for. One, two, three, hustle. We really use the Ripken way. His teachings and learnings that he took from his dad, Cal Sr ., from his playing days, and he's really brought into the business world. I think Ripken felt that the models out there for youth baseball while good weren't as effective at, you know, achieving this kind of overall experience. And he always talks about giving youths in baseball the Ripkin experience, so he builds this first complex that has a number of different fields that are all replicas of classic American baseball parks. Cal's all about detail and authenticity. We've got a Fenway Park, we've got a Wrigley Field, Yankee Stadium. You get to play on a two- thirds replica of Camden Yards. The outfield wall and rights the same, the dimensions are the same. And we built the hotel with the partnership of the Marriott. To look like the warehouse. Cal actually had to go sit down with Mr. Marriott and convince him. So Cal tells the story really well. You know, he was in there for an hour. He's talking, he's presenting, he's going through all this stuff. And he's so passionate about it, and he's got such a great vision for what he wants to see. At the end of the meeting, you know, Mr. Marriott said. I get it. Sounds great. Let's go build it. Between those two facilities, you have, youth baseball events, whether it's tournaments, or one off games, going on almost all year. We run about 75 thousand kids through a year, so you get to come out here, and you get a big league experience. And his next step now is to take the model of those two complexes, and duplicate them all over America. The business of Cal is expanded now to the point where it includes children's books, it includes videos, they make merchandise. They have a partnership with Under Armor. So I think what it shows is that Cal has successfully diversified. He has stayed within baseball, but he has expanded his business into a number of different arms of pieces [ UNKNOWN ] passion is extraordinary. He works harder than anybody that I've ever worked with. You know, it's always hard to call in sick at Ripken baseball when he showed up for, for 2, 632 days. His passion now is to create a platform to make the Ripken experience. Something that's bigger than just Cal, bigger than just Bill Ripken. Yeah, Cal Ripken right now is building something much bigger than Cal Ripken, the baseball player. His real thing is loving the sport you play and continuing to encourage young people to get into it The Ripken way will outlive. Carrow, myself and everybody else. And that's really the legacy he's building.

Baseball Hall of Famer, Cal Ripken, ventured into the business world right after retiring from the MLB. Ripken owns several minor league baseball teams, books, videos and merchandise.