BASEBALL HALL OF FAME: 'IRON MAN' DIDN'T COME UP SHORT RIPKEN STARTED A BIG TREND.

Byline: BOB KEISSER

Staff Writer

As he chased, caught and padded baseball's record for consecutive games played, it was easy to forget that Cal Ripken Jr., was a shortstop.

The original Iron Man, Lou Gehrig, was a first baseman who hit behind Babe Ruth in the Yankees lineup. The sheer size of the number Ripken was pursuing--2,130games, Gehrig's mark, which Ripken broke with 2,632 consecutive games--was large enough to obscure everything else.

But the other truth is that Ripken redefined the concept of an All-Star and record-setting shortstop. He is the 21st shortstop to enter the Hall of Fame, which he officially does Sunday in Cooperstown, N.Y., alongside San Diego Padres great and Long Beach icon Tony Gwynn, but clearly so different than the rest.

Ripken showed that a shortstop doesn't have to be a small, slight man whose forte is defense and singles. At 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, he showed that a big man can play the position and a shortstop can be a power hitter.

Ripken hit 431 career home runs, second of any Hall of Fame shortstop behind Ernie Banks (512), the Chicago Cubs immortal who moved to first base midway through his career and actually played more games there than at shortstop. The closest any other shortstop comes in the home run department is Robin Yount (Taft High of Woodland Hills) with 251, and he switched to center field midway through his career.

Banks was 6-1 and Yount 6-0. Honus Wagner, probably the greatest shortstop ever (.329career average, 3,430 hits), was the only true slugging shortstop of baseball's early era. He hit 101 home runs but also 651doubles and 252 triples.

The only other Hall of Fame shortstops with more than 100career home runs are Joe Cronin, Travis Jackson and Dodgers great Pee Wee Reese.

Baseball is stuffed now with large, rangy big shortstops that can hit with power. Alex Rodriguez is 6-3 and 225 and is the top candidate to someday own the home run record. He moved to third base when he signed with the Yankees so Derek Jeter, 6-3 and 195, could stay at shortstop.

There's also Detroit's Carlos Guillen (6-1, 215), Milwaukee's J.J. Hardy (6-2, 190), Texas' Michael Young (6-1, 200) and Colorado's Troy Tulowitzki (6-3, 205), the former Dirtbag.

Both Jeter and Rodriguez have credited Ripken with changing the mind-set baseball people had of shortstops.

"I'm very proud that I may have played a small role in that, but I'm smart enough to know that I didn't change the game by myself," Ripken said.

"When Earl (Weaver) moved me there, there were some questions about my size and my ability to play the position. By having the success that I had, it may have started to change the mind-set, at least in terms of consideration of players.

"Derek and Alex and some of the other guys give me credit for paving the way, but I think if it hadn't been me, it would've been somebody else."

"When I was coming up and people said I was too tall, I always said 'Ripken,'" Jeter said when Ripken retired. "It's now an offensive position because of him."

Other Hall of Fame shortstops fall into different categories. Many were indicted for their defensive skills -- Rabbit Maranville, Joe Tinker, Ozzie Smith, Bobby Wallace. Some were team leaders -- Reese, Hughie Jennings, Lou Boudreau. There's also a few stolen base artists, like Luis Aparicio and George Davis.

Most baseball historians say Ripken ranks alongside Wagner and Arky Vaughan as the greatest shortstops, and the order is subjective. Wagner, Ripken and Yount are the only Hall of Fame shortstops that eclipsed 3,000 hits. Vaughan has the second-highest career batting average behind Wagner.

Like Gwynn, Ripken is having difficulty handling the pre-induction adulation. He said he has rewritten his speech several times and has been floored by the constant attention.

"It's overwhelming," Ripken said this week at a ceremony in Baltimore. "Too much attention is overwhelming and makes you feel, 'Let's not pay so much attention to me.' I do understand that it's a celebration of baseball and that Tony and I play a role in that.

"I think the celebration of baseball in the Hall of Fame is something everybody looks forward to each and every year, but I'll have a sense of relief when it's all over and I'll want it to go back to a more normal environment.

"My career seems very storybook. Growing up (around Baltimore), watching the Orioles and having your dad work in the organization, you secretly hope that you'll be able to follow in his footsteps."

A lot of modern shortstops certainly followed those of Ripken.

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Photo:

(1) Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. played in a record 2,632 consecutive games.

Heather Hall/AFP/Getty Images

(2) Cal Ripken, Jr., left and Tony Gwynn pose for pictures during a news conference after their election tothe Baseball Hall of Fame.

Seth Wenig/Associated Press