Orioles reliever Paul Shuey shared an amusing Cal Ripken Jr. anecdote this week. As a young reliever, he tried to throw inside to Ripken during a game in Baltimore - with The Streak still alive and Lou Gehrig still holding the record.
Bad idea.
"It was an eighth-inning situation, a normal count, so I figured that I'd run one up and in," he said. "I did it, and I thought I was going to get killed. ... I never heard a stadium rise to its feet so fast. I thought, 'Oh, what did I do?' I'm out there talking to myself.
"I was young and just trying to get people out and not really considering exactly what was going on and who you were facing, but I got a real good reminder that day. Sometimes, you've got to pay attention."
roch.kubatko@baltsun.com
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