MVP Ripken goes out perfectly

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This is what perfection is.

The last bit of sunlight was licking the dirt between first and second base. Thin wispy clouds floated languidly over the stadium. The flags in left-center field hung limply.

It was about 6:15 on another lush summer night when Cal Ripken Jr. stepped into the batter's box to lead off the bottom of the third of a scoreless game.

On a night rich with standing ovations, this was the loudest and the longest. It was so insistent, Ripken, slightly self-consciously, stepped out of the box and tipped his helmet to the crowd.

This was his 19th and last All-Star Game, and for Ripken, who turns 41 next month, this moment merely was one in a series of homages to his career.

Ripken stepped back into the box, reclaimed his concentration, and the stadium quieted. This is the face of perfection.

Looking 21 instead of 41, Ripken jumped on Chan Ho Park's first pitch, a 93-mph fastball. Whipped his bat head around so fast you would have sworn he stole the sign, and lasered the pitch into the National League bullpen.

In the opposing dugout, National League Manager Bobby Valentine watched and muttered, "That's kind of unbelievable."

The ball was hit so hard and so fast we barely had time to enjoy it.

In his last All-Star Game, Ripken gave us another moment so perfect it didn't seem real. It was one of those indelible pictures, one of those self-reckoning moments in a player's career.

"It was something special," said AL shortstop Derek Jeter. "I don't see how he does it, but he always seems to come up with home runs. Someone mentioned before the game that Cal was going to hit one. It was just like the night when he broke (Lou Gehrig's) record."

Ripken's intense, persevering will caught up with Park's fastball, and lightning struck at Safeco.

With it, Ripken became the oldest player to hit an All-Star home run, which made you smile and put a lump in your throat at the same time.

Ripken really is retiring. This really is it.

"There's only a couple of people in the game who could do that," longtime National League All-Star Tony Gwynn said. "Step out, get away from their concentration for a split second, thank the fans for their ovation, get back in there, get their concentration back and hit a 93-mile-an-hour fastball over the fence."

Ripken didn't trot around the bases. He almost sprinted, pushed by the deafening roar and rushing adrenaline.

"The shot of adrenaline. The rush. For the first time in my life, I felt fast," Ripken said. "I think I could have run a three-minute mile at that point. I mean that's some good stuff."

Another standing ovation followed as he disappeared into the hugs and high-fives in the dugout. A curtain call was demanded.

Ripken jogged up the dugout steps and waved his cap to the crowd. We weren't merely watching this moment, we were feeling it.

"I just felt it was a great baseball environment here," Ripken said. "This was baseball crazy all the way around. I wish I could tell you exactly why. Maybe it's the success of the Seattle Mariners in the first half. This brand new beautiful place. The city of Seattle. All the Mariners on the team. Tony Gwynn and myself exiting the game. All those combinations came together here."

After the cheers, Ripken sat alone in the dugout sponging up every ounce of the moment. After he left the game he stayed in the dugout with his son, Ryan. "I was thinking, `This is is really cool,' " Ripken said.

This is why Ripken had to start this game.

In the last week of the voting, the fans got it right. It didn't matter that he was hitting only .240, that he no longer played every inning of every game.

The Baltimore Orioles won't make the playoffs. This would be his last prime-time appearance on national television, and it may have been the most eloquent farewell address ever given.

Ripken, the game's MVP, deserved this night. He deserved every one of his four standing ovations. This last chance at a summer evening, this golden and this glorious evening belonged to him.

And look what we would have missed if he hadn't started.

It became clear, even before the first pitch, that this entire evening was Ripken's.

Behind third base, moments before Roger Clemens' first pitch, Alex Rodriguez and Ripken did a strange pas de deux. Rodriguez, the AL's starting shortstop, was pushing Ripken toward short, where Ripken had started 14 times for the American League.

Ripken was reluctant to do it. Rodriguez pointed into the dugout, where Manager Joe Torre was waving him over. Ripken shook off Torre, then reluctantly followed orders and played the first inning at his old position.

"At first fear ran through me," Ripken said. "But I think it was a nice tribute from Alex."

The end came too soon.

In the beginning of the sixth inning, after Ripken had run to his position at third base, Troy Glaus came out to replace him. Rodriguez shook his hand, then Ripken shook hands with Jorge Posada and Torre.

Both dugouts emptied as Ripken and San Diego's Tony Gwynn, also retiring at the end of the season, were honored for their contributions to the game.

The game was delayed for six minutes. Call it a fame delay.

"It was a great, magic run," Ripken told the crowd as he stood at a lectern hastily placed in foul territory outside the third-base line.

And last night was perfection.

Steve Kelley can be reached at 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com.