By Barry Silverman 

No disrespect to Kelly, Rachel, Ryan, Vi, Billy, Elly and Fred, but while Cal Ripken Jr. the Man belongs to them, Cal the Ballplayer and Hometown Hero belongs to the fans who watched and cheered his Hall of Fame career. 

Ripken’s many accomplishments and milestones are cherished events in Baltimore and fans are reveling in his crowning achievement of being admitted to baseball’s Hall of Fame.

That is why it is so disconcerting and irritating that the Orioles' organization felt it necessary to block WBAL and every other radio station from playing highlights of Ripken’s career during the two weeks leading up to his induction weekend.

WBAL had been running a series of Ripken vignettes as part of its “Road To Cooperstown” series. Major League Baseball, at the request of the Orioles, told WBAL to stop running the vignettes, even though they belonged to WBAL throughout Ripken’s career.

What a bunch of foolishness. Everyone knows that CBS Radio and its local stations have the rights to Orioles baseball. Do the Orioles really think that if the public hears Ripken highlights on WBAL they’ll think that CBS no longer has the rights to Orioles’ play-by-play?

Give me a break!

There is a contract and money is being paid by the rights holder, but there is also something called common sense. Why deprive listeners of highlights that they maybe heard or witnessed in person?

There’s also something called marketing senses. Why not expose as many people as possible to the association of the Ripken and Orioles brand? 

Speaking of which, the idea of including Brooks Robinson and other Orioles Hall of Famers in Cal's send-off game early this week was to the Orioles' credit. So was having Andy MacPhail and Dave Trembley answer fans' questions from the top of the dugout before a recent game.

But after taking these two steps forward, the Orioles develop a case of doofusness with this radio nonsense and go back three steps. Again, the only ones who really lose are the fans.

And so it goes. 

'RALLY CAPS' GOING TO COOPERSTOWN, TOO

In a recent PressBox “High School Then and Now,” Keith Mills talked with Jodi Cutler, a native Baltimorean now living in Grosetto, Italy, about her book "Rally Caps." The book, which she co-authored with her father and my friend Stephen Cutler, is about a young boy who is hit by a pitch and becomes afraid to play baseball. (By the way, one of the camp kids in the book is named “Silverman,” and another named “Barry.” How ’bout that?) At summer camp he overcomes his fear, thanks to the encouragement of a hearing-impaired youngster from Italy. 

Jodi Cutler wrote the book so her own hearing impaired son would have a character to relate to. In the book, the boys’ love of baseball is inspired by the Cutlers’ baseball hero, Ripken. In fact, this weekend, Stephen Cutler will be at Augurs Bookstore in Cooperstown signing books. “Rally Caps” is also on sale at the Hall of Fame’s Museum Bookstore. 
 
RAY LEWIS AND ANITA MARKS

Last week, CBS Radio announced that every Monday night during football season the "Ray Lewis Show" will be broadcast live from Lewis’ Full Moon Bar-B-Que restaurant on Boston Street in Canton. The show will air on WJFK and simulcast on WHFS. Lewis will be there in person, along with co-host Anita Marks. 

Also on Thursday nights, Marks will co-host a show with Willis McGahee from Michael’s Pub in Columbia. Plus there will be other shows with different players and co-hosts each night of the week. 

As for the "Ray Lewis Show," word is that Lewis wanted to do a show and specifically wanted to do it with Marks. Lewis could have had anyone he wanted, but he picked Marks. That’s quite a compliment to her and not too shabby for someone who has only been in Baltimore for a little over a year. Just sayin'. 

LEBRON TO HOST SNL

LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers will host this fall’s season premiere of "Saturday Night Live." Word has it that they’ll have someone watching him throughout the taping from start to finish. As you may know, James has been known to disappear in the last two minutes.

Issue 2.30: July 26, 2007