Quote of the day: Cal Ripken Jr.

Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., owner of the record 2,632 consecutive games played, on the Baltimore Orioles originally considering him as a pitcher, not an infielder:

“There was some split decision in the Orioles’ organization about what to do with me. (Manager) Earl Weaver weighed in and said, ‘I’ve seen him swing the bat. We should give this kid a chance to play.’ And my dad weighed in and said, ‘In a developmental sense, if we try him out as a (position) player and he fails, he can always go back to pitching, but if you start him out as a pitcher and he fails, it’s very difficult to go back the other way.’ The irony is I said, ‘Pitchers only get to play one out of every five days. I want to play every day.’ ”