How Did I Miss This?

I mean, it's CAL! Along with Wayne Gretzky, this guy is my personal hero.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) -- When they played, Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn epitomized all that was good about baseball. And now as Hall of Famers, nothing has changed.

When they entered baseball's shrine on Sunday, the two were saluted as much for their remarkable careers as the character they have always displayed away from the field, greeted by a record crowd estimated at 75,000 that included Commissioner Bud Selig.

Ripken and Gwynn were awestruck.

"I was intimidated looking out at that many people," Ripken said. "I got real quiet. I just kept looking at it and I was amazed, overwhelmed. So many people. It makes you feel really good that people will trek all the way up from their homes to share this tribute." (H/T - Yahoo!)

Do you know why they trekked to Cooperstown, Cal? Because you and Tony Gwynn are amongst the last of a dying breed: honorable baseball players. Players who busted their humps not for personal stats or big-money contracts, but for the love of the game. Players who avoided scandal not because they were careful, but because they were of good character.

Players unlike Barry Bonds.

Congratulations Tony and Cal! Your inductions are truly deserved.