Ripken was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland, the son of Violet Roberta "Vi" and

Cal Ripken, Sr. He has German, English, and Irish ancestry.[2][3] Though the Rip
kens called Aberdeen, Maryland, their home, they were often on the move because
of Cal, Sr.'s coaching duties with the Baltimore Orioles organization.[4] Cal, S
r., in fact, was in Topeka, Kansas with one of his teams when his son was born.[
5] Cal, Jr., grew up around baseball and got started in it at a very young age.[
1] He was able to receive instruction from players on his father's teams, notabl
y Doug DeCinces.[6] He also got advice from his father, who once remarked to his
mother that his questions were better than the ones reporters had.[7] Jeanne St
razzabosco writes that at the age of three, Ripken knew he wanted to be a ballpl
ayer, and Paul Joseph and Kal Gronvall write that at the age of 10, Ripken "knew
the game inside and out."[7][8] Ripken and his brother Billy attended Aberdeen
High School.[9] They both played baseball there; Cal also played soccer.[10] He
has two other siblings, Ellen and Fred.[11]
Ripken began his high school career playing second base; his coach, Don Morrison
, said, "I was considering moving him to short, but I was unsure if his arm was
strong enough."[12] Despite Morrison's concerns, Ripken did move to shortstop as
a sophomore, combining strong fielding with a team-leading 10 runs batted in (R
BI).[10] Needing pitching help, the Aberdeen Eagles began using Ripken as a pitc
her as well in his junior year. He responded by striking out 55 batters in 46 1/
3 innings pitched with three shutouts while batting .339 with 21 hits and nine R
BI.[13] He was named the Harford County Most Valuable Player (MVP) while helping
Aberdeen become county champions for the first time since 1959.[14] During his
senior year, Ripken again had a strong season, lifting his batting average to .6
88 at one point and posting an 0.79 ERA with 45 strikeouts over his first 26 inn
ings.[15] In the playoffs, Ripken pitched the state championship game against Th
omas Stone High School.[16] The Eagles trailed 3 1 when Ripken, noting that rain w
as coming and that the game would be cancelled and replayed since the Eagles had
not yet played the fourth inning, made nine throws to first base to ensure the
game would be replayed.[16] When the game was played the next week, Ripken struc
k out 17, allowed two hits, and threw a complete game as Aberdeen won the state
championship.