Cal Ripken redefined the shortstop position

He revolutionized his position, defined durability and restored luster to baseball when it had all but worn off.

Is there any other choice than Cal Ripken Jr. at shortstop?

Ripken played just a handful of home spring training games in Sarasota and Bradenton in 1991, but that's enough to put baseball's Ironman on the area's all-time spring training team.

In 1991, the nomadic Baltimore Orioles trained at Twin Lakes Park in Sarasota but did not have a home stadium to play their Grapefruit League games in.

A proposal was presented to the Chicago White Sox to share Ed Smith Stadium with the Orioles, but Chicago owner Jerry Reinsdorf was not willing to go along.

Commissioner Fay Vincent actually intervened and the Orioles played five games in Sarasota. They were also the home team for nine games in Sarasota, Bradenton and Miami.

Coming out of Sarasota, Ripken had a career year in 1991, hitting .323 with 34 homers and 114 RBI and winning his second AL MVP award. He also won a Gold Glove and was the All-Star game's MVP.

It's almost as though Ripken's record for consecutive games played overshadowed what he actually did on the field: finishing his career with 3,184 hits, 431 home runs, two MVPs, a Rookie of the Year Award, 19 straight All-Star game appearances and a World Series championship.

But there is no escaping The Streak.

It began on May 30, 1982 and ended on Sept. 20, 1998 — a total of 2,632 straight games Ripken played in.

It's more than three full seasons longer than Lou Gehrig's 2,130 games, a record that was long believed unbreakable.

Ripken broke Gehrig's record on Sept. 6, 1995.

Ripken, a shortstop who played third base later in his career, went 19 years before his first trip to the disabled list.

In May 1999, he was quietly sent to Sarasota for a rehab stint to play against some minor-leaguers from the Pirates. Ripken was sent here to avoid the frenzy he would have created by rehabbing in Maryland.

Here's how remarkably durable Ripken was:

From the time his streak started — May 30, 1982 — to the time he first went on the DL in 1999 and was sent to Sarasota, a total of 5,045 players went on the DL.