1. His pursuit of Gehrig's record drove him to play every single game for years -- which I believe hurt his overall numbers.
2. Ripken only "revolutionized" the shortstop position in that he proved that a big man could play there. He wasn't a great fielder by any stretch . . . in fact, I've always said he would have been remembered as a better player if he had been a third baseman from the beginning.
he would have been a better 3rd baseman for sure....
and yes the number of games really wore him down, but only at the end of his career, in the middle he was a model of consistency, this is back when a .250 hitter would now hit .310 with the diluted pitching in this league...
But as a SS, he showed that he was just as good as Omar Vizquel and Ozzie and at stretches better. Cal had a stronger arm than both and was just as good turning two....
I remember watching him and Robbie Alomar or him and his brother turn a DP just a smoothly as you would ever want it.
AND he hit 400 homers and 3,000 hits....overall he was a much better player....