Bill Ripken, a 12-year major league veteran, is an analyst appearing across MLB Network's programming, including the Emmy Award-winning flagship studio show MLB Tonight and the kids-focused weekly interview and demonstration show Play Ball during the regular season.
Ripken earned the Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Studio Analyst in 2016 for his work on MLB Network. Ripken has been nominated in the category three times since joining MLB Network in 2009.
Ripken began his career with the Baltimore Orioles in 1987, under the direction of his father, Cal Ripken, Sr., and alongside his brother Cal Ripken, Jr. This was the first and remains the only time in Major League Baseball history that a father simultaneously managed two of his sons. After playing for Baltimore through 1992 and again in 1996, Ripken played for the Texas Rangers (1993-1994 and 1997), Cleveland Indians (1995) and Detroit Tigers (1998). In 1988, Ripken was second among American League second basemen in double plays turned with 110 and his .9927 fielding percentage in 1992 was the best of any Major League second baseman that season. Ripken led the Orioles in hitting with a .291 average and was tied for first on the team with 28 doubles in 1990.
In the spring of 2002, Ripken was honored for his achievements in MLB with an induction into the Maryland Sports Hall of Fame.
After his playing career, Bill joined his brother in the formation of Ripken Baseball, a sales and marketing company that handles all business interests of the Ripken's, is a parent company to divisions that work to grow baseball at the youth and professional levels. Ripken Professional Baseball owns and operates three minor league teams: the Aberdeen (Maryland) IronBirds (www.IronBirdsBaseball.com), the Class A affiliate of the Orioles; the Class A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants; and the Charlotte (Florida) Stone Crabs (www.StoneCrabsBaseball.com), the Class A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.
In 2001 Bill and Cal Ripken established The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, in memory of the family's patriarch. The foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, working throughout the country with Boys & Girls Clubs, P.A.L. centers, inner-city schools, and other youth serving organizations supporting programs in America's most distressed communities.
Bill is also a best-selling author and sought after public speaker. In 2005, he and his brother co-authored Play Baseball The Ripken Way: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Fundamentals.
