Cal Ripken played in 2,632 straight games, earning him the nickname "The IronMan."
But apparently before his two MVP awards, his 431 home runs and 19 all-star appearances, Ripken was like many high school freshmen.
Ripken told ESPN.com recently that he was bullied while in ninth grade at Aberdeen High School.
"I was a freshman who had made the varsity team, so I was a boy really playing with men. It became an environment to be picked on," Ripken told ESPN.
He said he was hung by his feet in a stairwell, some 20 feet above the ground, and "All the stuff in my pockets came out."
Ripken told ESPN he didn't tell anyone about the hazing, but remembered it later when he was in a position of authority.
"Anything you do that is demeaning to someone else is wrong," he said in the ESPN story. "I don't believe you can build a team with that attitude."
Ripken recently released a new book: "Super-sized Slugger," about a high schooler bullied for being unique.
Ripken will be signing the book at Barnes & Noble in Bel Air Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Ripken, who was born in Havre de Grace, spent much of his youth in Aberdeen, and was drafted out of high school in the second round of the 1978 amateur draft.
Ripken, 51, is the founder and chairman of Ripken Baseball, which includes Ripken Stadium and the Ripken Youth Baseball complex in Aberdeen amongst its assets.
The Cal Ripken World Series is held in Aberdeen every August.
Ripken led Aberdeen High School to the 1978 state title before he was drafted by the Orioles.
TELL US: Did you go to high school with Cal Ripken? Leave a comment.
In This article
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Aberdeen High School
251 Paradise Rd, Aberdeen, MD -
Aberdeen City Hall
60 N Parke St, Aberdeen, MD -
Ripken Stadium
873 Long Dr, Aberdeen, MD -
Cal Ripken Sr. Yard
873 Long Dr, Aberdeen, MD (Adjacent to Ripken Stadium) -
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Patricia Riley
8:44 am on Wednesday, March 7, 2012
I went to school with Cal. He was a jock and very popular. I didn't know anything about the hazing but then my ninth grade year was spent being pushed into lockers and being told how unattractive I was. I hated ninth grade! It took me to eleventh grade to finally get a protective coating and not let bullies pick on me anymore. I wish I would have known that had happened to Cal back then. Maybe I wouldn't have felt so alone.
Captain Steve Weisbrod
8:26 pm on Thursday, March 8, 2012
I went to an all boys Catholic High School in Cincinnati in the '60s. We didn't allow 'hazing'. Who's "WE"?..... it 'we' the students that didn't alllow it. 'We' always felt it was cowardly (we used a different word then.... two syllables, starts with a B and ends with a T) for a big guy or a group of guys to pick on a little guy or any individual. So... 'we' didn't allow it. Peer Pressure works both ways and our culture in the school was no bullying, no hazing. It was pretty cool.
Captain Steve Weisbrod
8:32 pm on Thursday, March 8, 2012
Oh, my son went to the same school 25 years later and it was still that way. I guess it is still the culture today. A few years ago the school instituted a 'House' program (ala Hogwarts) so upper classmen 'mentor' the underclassmen in their House. Because the House is rewarded for excellance in all classes it's in their best interest to work for all the classes in the House to excell and pull together.