Cal Ripken, Sr., 63, baseball player, coach, cancer

Calvin 'Cal' Edwin Ripken, Sr. was an American coach and manager in Major League Baseball who spent 36 years in the Baltimore Orioles organization, also as a player and scout. The Baltimore farm system was the longest tenure of any minor league manager in Orioles history. As a manager in the minor leagues for 13 years, Ripken won 964 games, and later compiled a 68-101 record managing the Orioles. More than that, he was a father figure to a generation of Oriole greats with whom he spent thousands upon thousands of hours working on the fundamentals of baseball. Several of his students, including Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, and most prominently his son Cal Jr., went on to Hall of Fame careers. In 1987, Ripken became the first — and so far only — father to manage two sons simultaneously in the majors. Cal Ripken, Sr. died at the age of 63 from lung cancer. He is survived by three sons, Cal Jr., Fred, and Billy, a daughter, Ellen, and his wife, Vi.