Baseball legend Cal Ripken Jr. will join Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra is in Connecticut this morning for the official opening of three new athletic fields in the city.
The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation creates athletic fields for at-risk youth in distressed communities. It has opened six fields in Connecticut, along with several other fields and parks throughout America.
The Foundation looks to help young people build character and teach leadership skills, strong work ethic, and responsibility through their baseball and softball themed programs.
“An active community is a healthy community. And our children deserve the same kind of athletic spaces they see in neighboring towns,” Segarra said in 2013, as he announced partnership with the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation to create the first of many athletic fields.
Within two years, the foundation is back in Connecticut to expand its success.
Cal Ripken, Jr. is a well-known baseball great.
After 21 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, Ripken retired in 2001 with several awards and accolades. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007 and is baseball’s all-time Iron Man. In 2001, Ripken Jr. and his brother established the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation in memory of their father. More recently, Ripken works as the owner and operator of Ripken Baseball, as well as the foundation.
Ripken is at the Global Communications Academy in Hartford this morning.