Now Ripken was getting closer to the moment that all of baseball was waiting for, and the reluctance he had shown throughout his career about calling attention to The Streak would no longer do. He could no longer fight it. His wife, Kelly, told him as much before he went into the shortened spring training; she suggested that he should enjoy it and embrace the attention that awaited him, not fight it.

Ripken took that advice and met reporters for the first time that historic season the day after he arrived at spring training in Sarasota. With a standing-room only crowd on hand, Ripken came into the press conference and said, "I am announcing that I am retiring and going to play professional basketball this season." He was only joking, of course. But writers immediately told Ripken that he would have an easier time of things in the NBA. After all, the record there at the time for consecutive games played was 906 by Randy Smith of the old Buffalo Braves.

Everyone got a big chuckle out of Ripken's remark, but it was an indication of how he wanted to approach the tidal wave of media that awaited him this coming season: to enjoy the spotlight, rather than battle it. To do so would require planning. Orioles public relations director John Maroon, just on the job for a few days, came up with a system for Ripken to handle the crush of press during the season and still maintain some order in his life.

"We agreed to meet with reporters on the road the first day of every road trip," Maroon said. "He fought that tooth and nail at first. He thought it was presumptuous to assume that people would want to talk to him in every city. I said, 'Trust me, they'll want to.' We tried it, and he realized it would work, because once you deal with the madhouse the first day, then he would get a couple of days off." That was how it went. City after city, when the Orioles went on the road, Ripken would handle the horde of reporters the first day, meeting either in the dugout or in interview rooms to answer questions like these:

- Minnesota reporter: "You're known as someone who's great with fans. How important is it for you to be that way this year and reach out for you and Major League Baseball?"

- Ripken: "The way I look at it is that I'm just so happy that baseball is back. I'm just happy to be out on the field playing. . . . I'm going to handle myself the same way I've always handled myself over the years, making myself available by shaking hands sometimes or signing autographs [he engaged in a number of two-hour signing sessions that year after games at Camden Yards] or just by talking to people. You know that's a special part of the game. Spring training was always a special time because it was a more relaxed atmosphere, with smaller stadiums and people closer to you. Sometimes the big league game with the big stadiums and crowds and the seriousness of the championship season, sometimes the fan-player interaction is pushed to a distance. But I try to do everything I can to keep that close."

- Boston reporter: "Could you tell us about your work ethic? Who had been influential in your life?"

- Ripken: "My approach to the game has probably been influenced by my father. Essentially, in a team game like baseball, your teammates rely on you to be in the lineup every day. From the very beginning, my Dad preached that it was important to be there, in the lineup, on a daily basis. Maybe I've exaggerated the point a little bit, but I still think it is important to go out there and play in a baseball season for 162 games. . . . you can help your team win in the first inning by turning a double play or guessing right on a hit and run, and the coverage was right, and you avoid a bad beginning. It's always been preached to me to be out there and in the lineup every day. My father is the one that turned me in that direction."

- New York reporter: "What about the comparisons between you and Lou Gehrig?"

- Ripken: "The only comparison that can be made is that we share a desire to play, a desire to be out there and the fact that we have this consecutive-game streak. There can be no comparison saying who was the better hitter because it is obvious that Gehrig was one of the greatest players to ever play the game. I can't compare my career to that. We just share a desire to want to go out and play, maybe a work ethic and a love of the game, too."

- Oakland reporter: "How have you been able to keep your body together and avoid injuries?"

- Ripken: "I think there's a lot of luck involved in staying away from injuries. We all have a different threshold of pain in some regard, and we all have different ability to go out there and focus on a daily basis. I feel very fortunate to have stayed away from serious injuries or even sickness that would keep you out of the lineup. The other thing was that I've had the ability to establish my career early, to focus on my job and not have to be in a platoon situation. I could go out there and prepare for each and every day."

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