He was a shortstop and later third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles who played between 1981 and 2001. He was known as the iron man of baseball, playing 2,632 straight games spanning fifteen seasons without missing a single game (May 30, 1982 - September 20, 1998). During this streak, Ripken played in 8,243 straight innings from June 5, 1982, to Sept. 14, 1987, considered to be a record. Cal Ripken retired on October 6, 2001 and built a new stadium in Aberdeen, Maryland, where he played baseball as a boy. He is a part owner of the Aberdeen IronBirds, a minor league baseball team associated with the Orioles. Ripken has also made generous donations to charity causes, including many donations supporting research on Lou Gehrig's disease.

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