U.S. Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr. Conducts Clinics for Kids in Tokyo, Tohoku, and Kansai

November 15, 2011 – U.S. Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr. – nicknamed the “Iron Man” – conducted baseball clinics for children in Tokyo, Tohoku, and Kansai during his weeklong visit to Japan as a U.S. State Department Public Diplomacy Envoy. He was joined by former American League All-Star and Baltimore Orioles teammate Brady Anderson, and was reunited with longtime friend Sachio Kinugasa, Japan’s own “Iron Man” and a former star with the Hiroshima Carp.

During the visit to Tohoku, Mr. Ripken and his group had the opportunity to see some of the towns that were hardest hit by the devastating March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

“We didn’t know what to expect when we reached the local school and the young kids who lost so much,” said Ripken, after conducting a clinic for children in Ofunato. “What we found was an amazing spirit that seems to be in so many of the Japanese people. Despite the hardships they have endured, these kids wanted to play a little baseball and have some fun.”

In Kansai, Mr. Ripken visited with representatives from the Japan Boys League, conducted baseball clinics in Nishinomiya and Kyoto, met the mayor of Kyoto, and threw out the first pitch at the All Japan Girls Baseball Tournament.

At the end of his visit, Mr. Ripken stated, “We judged the success of our visit on whether or not we could make a kid smile, and we saw a lot of smiles. I would like to thank the Japanese people for this opportunity, and I was honored to be here.”

Ripken is considered one of the best shortstops and third basemen ever, and played his entire two-decade career with the Baltimore Orioles from 1981 to 2001. He is famous for breaking the 56-year-old record of New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig for consecutive games played, a record considered unbreakable, playing in 2,632 consecutive games between May 30, 1982 and September 19, 1998.