Cal Ripken, Sr., 1989 Bowman #260

To my knowledge, Cal Ripken, Sr. is the only coach to receive a card in the 1989 Bowman set. If you're wondering about the television motif, I'm pretty sure it's an homage to the 1955 Bowman design. I'm grateful for this oddity, as it makes for a great Father's Day card. Of course, "Senior" had made baseball history in 1987 as the first (and to date, the only) man to manage two of his sons on the same team. By the time the Aberdeen, MD native was tabbed to replace Earl Weaver as the Oriole manager, he had paid his dues as a player, coach, and manager in the Baltimore organization for three decades. As his reward, he was handed an aging team that had been in steady decline since winning the World Series in 1983. The club went 67-95 and finished ahead of only the Indians in the A.L. East. If you want to talk about a short leash, Cal was fired just six games into a winless start to the 1988 season. Frank Robinson took his place and proved that the manager wasn't the problem; the O's eventually lost a league-record 21 games before picking up their first win that year and dropped 107 in all.

Both of the Ripken boys were obviously hit hard by the hasty dismissal of their father. Cal Junior was deeply resentful and later admitted that he began having doubts about his own long-term future with the team. Billy switched from uniform number 3 to his dad's #7. Fortunately, the story had a somewhat happy ending. Robinson soon asked the elder Ripken to return as third-base coach, a position that he held until retiring in 1992. Cal Senior remained close to the Birds until his death in 1999. It's a classy and fitting testament to the literal and figurative father of the O's that no one has worn #7 since he hung up his spikes.