tive-game streak ended at 2,632 games on September
20, 1998, when he voluntarily missed a game.
Impact Ripken’s significance extended far beyond
his achievements on the field. In 1992, he was pre-
sented the Roberto Clemente Award for his charac-
ter and outstanding contributions to his community.
Standing at six feet, four inches, Ripken broke new
ground at the shortstop position. In the past, players
at this position had been small, quick, and generally
not power hitters. With Ripken’s success at shortstop,
he paved the way for other larger shortstops that fol-
lowed, such as Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.
Subsequent Events Cal Ripken, Jr., retired from
baseball in 2001 after he was again named the Most
Valuable Player in the All-Star Game. Ripken was
elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007 with the
third-highest percentage of votes in history and the
highest ever for a position player. He has continued
his charitable works and has used his celebrity to ad-
vance youth baseball in the twenty-first century.
Further Reading
Beckett, James.Nine Innings with Cal Ripken, Jr.Dal-
las: Beckett, 1998.
Ripken, Cal, Jr.Ripken: Cal on Cal.Arlington, Tex.:
Summit, 1995.
Ripken, Cal, Jr., and Mike Bryan.The Only Way I
Know. New York: Penguin Books, 1997.
Douglas A. PhillipsSee also Baseball; Baseball realignment; Baseball
strike of 1994; Griffey, Ken, Jr.; Home run race;
McGwire, Mark; Sosa, Sammy; Sports. Roberts, Julia
Identification American actor
Born October 28, 1967; Smyrna, Georgia
One of the highest-paid actors of the 1990’s, Roberts won
moviegoers’ hearts with her charm and varied roles.
Raised in a theater environment in which their par-
ents hosted workshops for children, Julia Roberts
and her brother, Eric (also an actor), showed an
early interest in performance. She survived a diffi-
cult childhood to perform in four minor films and
win a significant supporting role as a feisty waitress in
Mystic Pizza(1988). The part sparked her casting,
with Sally Field, as a fatally diabetic young mother-to-
be inSteel Magnolias(1989), which culminated in an
Oscar nomination and Golden Globe Award.
Roberts’s career was launched after she starred in
director Garry Marshall’s romantic comedyPretty
Woman(1990), costarring Richard Gere, in which
she played a good-hearted prostitute redeemed by a
millionaire client. The role established her comedic
star-quality appeal and won her an Oscar nomina-
tion and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. A
romantic-comedy favorite with both sexes, Roberts
also proved popular with the critics, who applauded
her acting inMy Best Friend’s Wedding(1997) and
Notting Hill(1999). Her reunion with Gere inRun-
away Bride(1999) capitalized onPretty Woman’s suc-
cess. Furthermore, Roberts’s appeal and salary
strengthened and steadily rose when she undertook
serious roles in somewhat less successful films, in-
cludingFlatliners (1990),The Pelican Brief(1993;
based on John Grisham’s novel),Michael Collins
(1996),Ever yone Says I Love You(1996; with director
Woody Allen), andConspiracy Theor y(1997).722 Roberts, Julia The Nineties in America
Cal Ripken, Jr., waves to fans after breaking Lou Gehrig’s record
of 2,130 consecutive games on September 6, 1995.(AP/Wide
World Photos)