Baseball Icon Cal Ripken and the Virtue of Loyalty

It is commonplace today to say there is no loyalty in sports. Very few baseball players stay with the same team their whole career. Football and basketball coaches at major universities frequently leave successful programs for more money. A good percentage of top-tier high school recruits end up in the transfer portal and change schools, some more than once. Congress is currently attempting to legislate solutions to some of these issues that negatively impact society. To bring a moral perspective to the contemporary discussion, I am reprinting here without any significant changes an article I wrote in 1995 on Cal Ripken and the virtue of loyalty.  

On September 6, 1995, Cal Ripken, the shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles for the last thirteen years, played in his 2,131^st consecutive baseball game, surpassing a record for endurance held since 1939 by the immortal Yankee first baseman, Lou Gehrig. President Clinton attended the game as did many baseball celebrities, including the revered Joe DiMaggio. When the game became official in the fifth inning, the fans at Camden Yards erupted into a jubilant celebration which lasted over twenty-two minutes. About midway through the steady applause the usually reserved Ripken trotted around the stadium reaching out to the delirious crowd. The players of the visiting California Angels cheered along with the fans and greeted Ripken warmly when he got to their dugout. The TV announcers for ESPN did not say a single word for twenty-two minutes, allowing the striking visuals to tell the story.  Baseball games around the country stopped when the record was broken, as players and fans stood and applauded Ripken’s accomplishment. Cal Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig’s record generated more national attention and excitement than any other record-breaking achievement in memory, including Hank Aaron passing Babe Ruths lifetime home-run mark and Pete Rose surpassing Ty Cobb on the all-time hit list. What accounts for the remarkable Ripken phenomenon and what does it mean for us and our culture?

Considered purely from the viewpoint of athletic achievement, the exuberant reaction appears overblown. Setting an endurance record certainly does not take as much athletic skill as the record-breaking achievements of Aaron, Rose and others. As a hitter, Ripken’s statistics are not even close to those of Lou Gehrig: for example, a lifetime batting average of .278 compared to .340 for the Yankee star. Despite his great consistency as a fielder, Ripken is not considered the best fielding shortstop of his era – an honor reserved for Ozzie Smith. Even the final record-breaking game lacked the drama and suspense usually needed to ignite a crowd. None of this takes away from Ripken’s truly remarkable accomplishment, but it still leaves the question of why a jaded and often cynical public got so excited about his record.

One part of the answer is that Cal Ripken fulfills the national yearning for a sports hero who can serve as a role model for the youth of today. When the former Yankee star Mickey Mantle was dying, he told young people, “Don’t be like me.” With an engaging honesty, he admitted that God had given him great talent and he had squandered it by his excessive drinking. By contrast Ripken is a man of outstanding personal integrity and strong family values. He has moderate habits and stays in good shape throughout the year. No scandals mar his good name.  We can embrace Cal Ripken as a sports star who is a worthy model for young people.

Many Americans also admire Ripken because he represents the ethic of hard work which governs their own lives. Like them, Cal goes to his job day after day and puts in his best effort. He is not flashy or flamboyant, but performs in an efficient and business-like way. He gets to the ballpark early, prepares himself mentally, practices diligently and plays hard. His success and recent acclaim  provide striking confirmation that the American work ethic is sound and pays off. Cheering for Cal is a way of honoring all the hard-working Americans who do their jobs each day without fanfare.

But an even more important factor in the Ripken phenomenon is the way he exemplifies the ideal of loyalty – a virtue in short supply in our culture today. Throughout his life Cal has been loyal to his family, his principles, his city and his team as well as to the fans and the game of baseball itself. For him loyalty has always been rooted in the family circle. Cal credits his father for teaching him as a youngster “to be there for your team and to be counted on by your teammates.” He has remained close to his parents. He is happily married to his wife, Kelly, and adores his five-year-old daughter, Rachel and his two-year-old son, Ryan. One of his favorite activities is driving Rachel to school, which give them time together. In his remarks after the record-shattering game, he obviously spoke from his heart when he said: “I thank you Kelly, for your advice, support and joy you have brought to me and for always being there. You, Rachel and Ryan, are my life.”

Cal grew up in the Baltimore area and always wanted to play for the Orioles. After becoming a star, he had opportunities to become a free agent and sign with other teams for more money, but always chose to remain in Baltimore. Cal’s loyalty to the Orioles stands in sharp contrast to the “hired guns” who periodically move to a new team looking for more money or the chance to play on a championship squad. Always loyal to his fans, Cal gave them even more attention as he moved toward the record, spending many extra hours before and after games patiently and carefully signing autographs for them. Over the years he has expressed his loyalty to people in the Baltimore area by raising and donating hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for local charities.

To appreciate this aspect of the Ripken phenomenon, we need a deeper understanding of the virtue of loyalty. No one has written more extensively or wisely on this virtue than the great American philosopher, Josiah Royce (1855-1916). Royce, a friend and colleague of William James, taught at Harvard for thirty-four years until his death in 1916. Among his many published books is his 1908 Gifford Lectures, entitled The Philosophy of Loyalty. Worried about the rising spirit of individualism in the United States, he insisted that the old-fashioned virtue of loyalty is the “center point of the moral life” and the “fulfillment of the whole moral law.” Royce initially defined loyalty as “the willing and practical and thorough going devotion of a person to a cause.” A martyr dying for the faith exemplifies this crucial virtue. Loyal persons choose or approve their cause and subordinate their own desires to it. The cause is larger than the private self and has value in itself. Genuine lovers, for instance, are loyal to one another and to their relationship, which they perceive as greater than themselves as individuals. Loyalty is a social virtue which unites us with others who are willing to sacrifice for the cause.

But loyalty is not simply a matter of self-sacrifice. Loyalty to a cause overcomes inner dissatisfactions and gives meaning to life. It gives us a sense of inner stability and unified purpose. Royce sees St. Augustine as an example of a person who found peace by subordinating his own volatile will to the will of God. Loyal persons do not experience a conflict between their cause and their own interests. On the contrary, they believe that loyalty to the cause will bring them fulfillment and happiness. They are engaged in fascinating projects which give them pleasure and draw forth their best efforts. Well-chosen causes activate their idealism and keep them from falling into complacency. According to Royce, loyalty manifests a belief in the Eternal. Individuals who toil and sacrifice for a worthy cause “enter the realm of spiritual truth.” Guided by religious faith they can relate their particular cause, even a lost cause, to the one great project of creating the community of love in the world.

Royce argues that loyal persons are a treasure. Their virtue is contagious and their example inspiring. They help promote loyalty in a culture suffocated by individualism. Cal Ripken is a national treasure because he has won popular acclaim for the virtue of loyalty. Moreover, his good example alerts us to all the ordinary people who enrich our lives by remaining loyal to worthwhile causes.