Ripken still a student in broadcasting booth

NEW YORK — Tuesday was 18 years to the day since Cal Ripken Jr. asked out of the Orioles lineup and ended the longest consecutive-game streak at 2,632 games. To beat his record, you need only play every day for more than 16 seasons in a row.

But real Iron Men don’t just sit around talking about the old days.

Life for Ripken is always a lineup card with his name penciled in. On Monday, it was a meeting with Commissioner Rob Manfred to chat about their progress and goals in his new role as Major League Baseball’s senior advisor on youth programs and outreach. And then it was here at the Time Warner Center for the TBS media luncheon, along with Ron Darling and Gary Sheffield, as they prepare for that network’s 10th year of broadcasting postseason baseball, this time for American League games leading up to the World Series.

Ripken first gave broadcasting a try in that October 2007 postseason, as a studio analyst for TBS. He eventually moved into the booth alongside Ernie Johnson and Darling as the No. 1 crew, and now this has become a regular fact of life. Ten years later, and Ripken is on another streak. Only time will tell if he ever takes himself out of this lineup.

“Looking at Cal Ripken the broadcaster, I’m thankful that TBS thought of me,” Ripken said. “I was always a big Ernie Johnson fan, and I came into the family by going down and rehearsing with Ernie. So I was in the studio first, and then placed into the broadcast booth, with Ernie and Ron Darling, two really professional guys. It makes it really easy to just focus on how the game unfolds, how the game plays.

“You’re still trying to shape your style, your words, how you communicate that, but your main goal is to interpret what I see in the game and give that to your audience.”

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