In September 1995 Cal Ripken Jr. broke one of baseball's most important records: Lou "The Iron Horse" Gehrig's 2,130 consecutive game playing streak. Though he is best known for "The Streak," the smooth-fielding shortstop and third baseman of the Baltimore Orioles has many other accomplishments to point to. Twice Ripken has won the American League Most Valuable Player Award (1983 and 1991) and he has hit more home runs than any shortstop in major league history. Near the end of the 1998 season, when Ripken's consecutive playing streak had reached 2,632 games, he voluntarily took himself out of the line up. Just like the man whose record he broke, someday Ripken will have his plaque hang in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr. was born August 24, 1960, in Harve de Grace, Maryland. Baseball was in his blood--his dad, Cal Sr., was a minor league player in the Baltimore...