born Aug. 24, 1960, Havre de Grace, Md., U.S.
U.S. baseball player.
Ripken was born into a baseball family; his father and brother both played professionally. He played for the Baltimore Orioles from 1981. In 1990 he set single-season records for highest fielding percentage by a shortstop (.996) and fewest errors by a shortstop (3), and in 1993 he broke the home-run record for a shortstop. On Sept. 6, 1995, he broke Lou Gehrig 's long-standing record of consecutive games played (2,130), eventually running his streak to 2,632 games before taking a day off in 1998. Ripken retired at the end of the 2001 season.