Coming into baseball, it wasn't about you being the star of the team. The Hall of Fame is such a huge individual honor. Could you put it into context with your family and yourself, and what you thought of it growing up and what you think of it now.
I always deferred those kinds of questions or feelings to a point where you are retired or sitting in a rocking chair when you can reflect on it. So now I've been out of baseball five years, there is plenty of chance to sit back and reflect on that because all you really have is what you used to do. That doesn't mean your life stops. You look back and you start to think about and feel pretty good about your contributions to the game.
All I really try and do is live up to my potential and do as well as I possibly could and to bring to the ballpark each and every day a good effort and do the best that I could each and every day. So looking back on it and reflecting, which is where I am now, it brings you back to some of those moments and some of those accomplishments. And, obviously, being elected to the Hall of Fame is the ultimate. It is a collection of what you were able to accomplish.
An endorsement of you as a player?
It endorses who you are as a player and what your contributions were. And it doesn't take into consideration the team. Although MVP awards and all those things turn out to be how valuable you are to the team.
Being elected to the Hall of Fame is about your career pretty much and your impact on the game. So looking back on those things, the proudest thing that I have that I can think of is being given credit [for] changing the mind-set of being a shortstop. The guys like Derek [Jeter] and Alex [Rodriguez] come along and thank me for that. And I try and put it into perspective that my success at the position maybe just changed the attitude toward the position, not necessarily the mind-set. It was going to happen anyway, and there was going to be a natural evolution. But looking back on it, the game's best players have come through the shortstop position. Offensively and defensively.
And I take special pride, and it wasn't my plan in life. I was a third baseman. Earl [Weaver] put me over there. And I always thought it would be a temporary move. A temporary move lasted 15 years there. The mark that I left on that position as it was to players and future players was a really proud moment.
It's fun to look back on your career and look at those team moments. By far, the best moment of my big league career was when I caught the last out at the World Series. Of all the great things that had happened, catching the last out at the World Series and having that feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment that comes over you at that moment, none of those other individual moments come close to.
The best human moment was the lap around Camden Yards [during the 2,131st consecutive game]. It was very spontaneous. I didn't want the game to be interrupted that long out of respect of the players of the other team, the fans for the game. You should get the game going and celebrate after the game. When I was pushed down the line, that celebration turned into a celebration that was very one-on-one, and one that was very heartfelt. It's great when everyone is clapping for you, 50,000 strong, all of these personal moments that occurred around that lap, including an interaction with my dad, the personal family there, the California Angels, my teammates and everyone else that I was able to touch. That was probably the best human moment.
What memories do you have of visiting the Hall of Fame?
The greatest experience I had there was when Eddie Murray was inducted. I came up for the day and sat down, and I wasn't sure what to expect in that celebration, and I felt a little bit for Eddie because he isn't someone who likes to get up there and stand up and talk. He's a wonderful man with a great heart and has plenty of words most all the time, but when it comes to standing in front of a microphone, it isn't the most comfortable place. And I wasn't sure what it was going to be like when he got up there, and I think he moved everybody. Eddie got to my dad and he started to talk about my dad and made me well up and start to cry. And you looked around and a lot of people had that same feeling.
How do you feel about the knowledge that you are going to be among the plaques on the wall in the Hall of Fame?
You don't project yourself in the Hall of Fame as a player. It's only during that five-year period where people start asking about it, and it doesn't seem real until it happens. I've heard a lot of people talk about it as the same sort of feeling when you get to the big leagues. Sometimes, you have to pinch yourself. Sometimes you have to think, "Am I really here? Or is this something that I'm thinking about or dreaming about?"
I described a couple of the really great experiences, out-of-body experiences, but it seems like you're going through it or watching somebody else do it, and I would imagine this experience will be exactly the same.
Does it carry extra meaning for you that for probably several generations of fans, you're the main face of a franchise that you followed as a kid?
Well, I mean, there are a couple of things that I took great pride in. Wearing the Oriole uniform around the country and trying to represent the city of Baltimore in a way that I felt was honorable and proud. You bring tribute to the team in the way you play the game and the way you conduct yourself on the field and off. It is a great tribute to your team and the city of Baltimore.
To me, I took special pride in that and looking back on it, playing your whole career on one team. Talk about the odds or the out-of-body experience or whatever you want to call it, part of the dream in that particular case, I'm from here and so being an Oriole was something I wanted in the worst way.
The odds were totally against you. I was told as I was being scouted that chances were that I wouldn't end up on the Orioles, and as luck would have it, four picks in the second round gave me the opportunity to play for the Orioles. Then going through the system you were against all odds to actually make it, then you were against all odds to actually stay once you do make it.
And once there, going through all of the different rebuilding processes that we went through, all of the ups and downs, the changes in ownership, the changes in managers, the changes in general managers, a lot of people think all the change -- I had a career where I just stayed with one team, and I didn't really have to change. Change was going on all around me, and I still had great pride no matter who was in charge or what administration came in. We were still the Orioles. Looking back, I'm really happy and thankful that I was able to stay with one team, especially the team that I wanted to play for.
You talked a little bit about Eddie's speech. Have you been running through this at all in your head? Have you for the last couple of weeks, months been thinking about who you need to thank and that kind of stuff?
No -- I'm someone -- I need to be able to cope with it in a real sort of way, so you put it out of your mind until it happens. Then you keep your fingers crossed that the process will start to bring the right words to take place at the right time.
I don't know. I've heard stories of other people who actually planned their speeches and studied and done all sorts of things. I have no intention to do that. I think the right words will start to come to you.
When I delivered the speech at 2,131, I didn't think about it until two days before. I sat down with [agent] Ron Shapiro and we began to carve out what was important, what that opportunity meant and how I was going to say it. And obviously who was instrumental and important in my life.
The emotion was pretty easy talking about except my mom. I had to rehearse saying the "my mom" part, which seems real easy because you're talking about your mom, but when I got to that part, the frog got my throat and I got choked up and I had to get the emotion out so I could actually say it. So I had to repeat that about 100 times, that section, until I got to that point.
Even Eddie, who comes off as a stoic guy, the emotion came off at times. It seems to happen to pretty much everybody. Is there any kind of apprehension deep down inside of you that when you get up there and the emotion is going to be too much that it is going to be too hard to do this?
I don't fear the moment. That wouldn't be an accurate way to look at it. Are you concerned that emotion might get the best of you? Yeah, absolutely. And what's the problem with that?
Has your perspective on The Streak changed in the past five years, in the past 11 years?
In some ways, when you look back, it didn't seem like it was that big of an accomplishment when I was doing it. But when you put the number up there -- 2,632 -- and you start to look at it and over the time frame in which it happened, there was a lot of stuff that could have happened and kept me out of the lineup. There was a lot of stuff that did happen that I endured and got through.
But, yes, in some ways, when I was playing it, it was a series of playing 162 in a row. So if you played 162 one year and you were able to heal up in the offseason and work out really hard, it wasn't inconceivable that you could play another 162. And so it was a collection of those individual seasons. But, in the end, when you're looking back on it, you're looking at one big number. And so certainly it seems a little bit bigger deal.
Do you think you would be considered a first-ballot Hall of Famer without The Streak?
I think The Streak in many ways became my identity. Not unfairly, it's just a part of who you are, going out there and playing. I loved the way that Frank Robinson used to look at it. Frank Robinson turned it around in a very optimistic, positive way, where he said, "One of the easiest things about my job is I know who's playing short and I know who's hitting third." He said he wished he had all the guys when he came to the ballpark, instead of having to go walking around saying, "Can you play today? Can you play today?" waiting to make out the lineup until everybody got there and you can have a conversation. I thought that that was something I was very proud of.
Maybe from a statistical analysis, if I was able to look out for No. 1 and take eight to 10 days off and handpick the [pitchers] I couldn't hit and let the team meet the challenges without me, maybe statistically you jump a few points in batting average or you're fresher and hit a few more home runs. Who knows? But I'm certain I could take a 5-for-40 off my stats at the end of every year and they'd look a little bit better.
You have alluded from time to time to being more involved on the field, maybe on the major league side. How much does that call to you? How much does it call to you to be part of an ownership group or a team president?
If there was an opportunity -- and I always preface this by saying if it would fit with my personal life and my schedule -- where I could come back and shape, or help shape, an organization, I certainly would consider that.
Do you think it's entirely out of the question that 10 years from now you would have an ownership interest in a team? Do you think you'd ever want to get back into the day-to-day business of managing a team?
It's hard to project that far ahead. Ten years from now? If you're looking at baseball jobs and things that fascinated me when I played, I always managed along with the manager. So managing a team from a strategic standpoint and looking at where pieces fit and how you play it out for a season, I've always been interested in that. Does that mean I'd be interested in a managing job? I don't know. Certainly not at this moment.
What do you think about Hall of Fame vote totals?
I don't have a hang-up about unanimous votes or percentage of votes and that kind of stuff. It is what it is. People think what they think about it. Would it be nice? Sure. Would it be more meaningful? I'm not so sure.
I think everybody wants to feel more deserving. I think the first time I was voted the Most Valuable Player, in 1983, as a young man you obviously think, "I was the right choice for the award. I deserved it." But when you start to live life a little bit and you realize there's a subjective opinion about that, thinking back you might think Eddie was the man.
What was the least enjoyable time in your career?
In '83, we did win. Then a bunch of our players, impact players, started to retire, started to go off. Then we went through a major sort of change and a rebuilding process that we sort of never really recovered from. So during those years of change and recovery and trying to get back to a level of respect or being competitive, we would have glimpses of being good. Then in '96 and '97, we returned to a level of competition, and '97 was especially gratifying. But in the interim years, that was a pretty horrible time to be a baseball player.
I saw the joy of my dad getting a chance to manage. That was something he wanted to do for all those years. But [he] inherited a team that didn't have much of a chance to win. I guess we wouldn't admit that we were in a rebuilding situation, and after six games into his second year, he got fired, and I was a player who had to go through that. And then actually what was important to me, I was a free agent at the end of that year, so I guess I could have prepared to leave. If I had to make that decision in the first month or two months or even three months after that had happened, I guess I would have gone. That was a very unsettling time.
I wish I'd had a career like Derek Jeter, where a bad year means you lose in the first round of the playoffs. And you think Chipper Jones comes into the Atlanta Braves situation where they're winning division titles every year he's there. That's what you look back on and hope you were a part of. The changes in the Orioles' system over time was difficult to get through at times, but looking back I'm thankful I did go through those.
In 2001 on the farewell tour, every city you hit you had to talk to the media. In every news conference, someone asked about the Hall of Fame, and you kept saying that was a long way away. Does it strike you that it's here now?
It's the fastest five years of my life. These five years have gone by like the snap of a finger. So, I guess in a business sense, it must be pretty good, it must be OK. I must be enjoying the challenges that I'm going through because time has just flown by.
From a kid's standpoint, you have kids coming through your camps now -- and I'm up there a couple of weeks during the summer -- a kid might be 10 now and you fast realize that five years and you're irrelevant to that kid.