By William Gildea
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 31, 1999; Page D1

ABERDEEN, Md., March 30 – Cal Ripken Sr. was remembered today by his close-knit family and hometown friends as a devoted father and tireless baseball man who would settle for nothing less than what he believed to be the right way of playing the game.

Ripken, who died of lung cancer last Thursday at the age of 63, was eulogized by his sons Cal Jr. and Bill, who both played under him when he was a coach for the Baltimore Orioles and during his tenure as manager of the team, in 1987 and early 1988. Ripken's life, almost three decades of which were spent in the Orioles' organization, was recalled during an hour-and-a-half private memorial service that was limited at the family's request to relatives and close friends. Ripken was later buried at a cemetery on the outskirts of town.

"People say we were not an emotional family," Cal Jr. said during a tearful remembrance, according to the Associated Press. "Maybe we've changed that today. We did not have a lot of exchanges – a handshake, a look. We didn't say 'I love you' all the time, but we all knew that we loved each other. In the hospital, we said it enough times to last a lifetime. 'Dad, we love you.'"

Both Cal Jr. and Bill wept openly as they eulogized their father, according to AP. "How he loved putting on his uniform," Cal Jr. recalled. "He was never happier than when he was wearing that uniform. It was the hardest thing for him to take off at the end of the day. He called it his work clothes."

Cal Jr. recalled emotionally how he took his son Ryan to the ballpark for the first time to pass on the traditions of baseball just as Cal Sr. had taken him. Cal Sr.'s other children, Fred and Ellen, also attended.

About 300 mourners, including many connected with the Orioles, attended the service in the red brick Grace United Methodist Church on Bel Air Avenue, the town's main street, not far from the Ripken Museum. Black crepe was affixed to the museum's front door and the front doors of other establishments in town. A large sign, "We Will Miss You, Cal Sr.!" stood in front of the museum, and on its lawn were left bouquets of flowers.

On the side of a building were the numbers 2632, commemorating Ripken Jr.'s consecutive-games streak.

Cal Jr., who left spring training March 23 to be with his father, was joined at the church by a host of Orioles representatives, including team owner Peter Angelos, General Manager Frank Wren, players B.J. Surhoff, Harold Baines and Chris Hoiles, and coaches Elrod Hendricks and Eddie Murray. Ripken Sr. also was eulogized by lawyer-agent Ron Shapiro, state Sen. Robert Hooper and former Orioles coach Jimmy Williams.

The previous two days had been marked by long lines of people paying respects at a local funeral home. Today, townspeople quietly contemplated the loss of a friend.

"He was extremely well-liked and respected from what I see in the baseball community and here in the local community," said Bob Plummer, a pharmacist. "They've done everything right, Cal and [his wife] Vi. . . . It's a tragedy because he had so much to live for."

"It's a sad day for Aberdeen and not just for Aberdeen – everybody lost so much when we lost him," said Sue Mabe, owner of a flower shop. "He was a pleasant man, always friendly, helpful. He was just another of us. To us he wasn't famous. He'd go to the post office. He'd do the rounds, things everybody in town does. You could go into a restaurant and he'd be having lunch. He never lost the hometown touch."

People stood on the sidewalks of the store-lined street before the service, and afterward stood silently as a long procession passed slowly by on its way to the cemetery.

Anthony Ajello, a security guard, went back to patrolling a nearby street. As recently as three months ago, he said, he had seen Ripken and "talked a little baseball" with him. "He was a quiet man, a nice man," said Ajello. "I never heard him say anything bad against anybody. That's how he raised his children to be so nice. Aberdeen lost a good man, that's all I can say. I know his sons will take his place."