Category profile
- Dominance
- 82
- Peak
- 88
- Longevity
- 96
- Honours
- 84
- Statistics
- 90
Career timeline · Home runs per season
| Season | Home runs per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 28 | |
| 1983 | 27 | |
| 1984 | 27 | |
| 1985 | 26 | |
| 1986 | 25 | |
| 1987 | 27 | |
| 1988 | 23 | |
| 1989 | 21 | |
| 1990 | 21 | |
| 1991 | 34 | |
| 1992 | 14 | |
| 1993 | 24 | |
| 1994 | 13 | |
| 1995 | 17 | |
| 1996 | 26 | |
| 1997 | 17 | |
| 1998 | 14 | |
| 1999 | 18 | |
| 2000 | 15 | |
| 2001 | 14 |
Data sources
- MLB
- Baseball Reference
- Olympics.com
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Cal Ripken Jr. ranks #21 in Baseball
Cal Ripken Jr. ranks 21st among Baseball athletes on GOAT Rank and 315th of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 87.6 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 82, Peak 88, Longevity 96, Honours 84, Statistics 90. Those categories are normalised against the full Baseball reference universe of 262 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1981–2001 with 20 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1991, which sets the Peak component at 88. Longevity is the defining strength of the profile at 96 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes consecutive games 2632, mvp awards 2, all-star selections 19, career hits 3184.
Immediately ahead sits Derek Jeter on 88.4, a gap of 0.8 points. Directly behind is Frank Robinson on 88.9. The position moves whenever the verified record moves: new titles, new seasons or a corrected source all feed straight back into the same formula, and every change is dated on this profile.
Cal Ripken Jr. GOAT Score explained
- Dominance82/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Ripken stood above the field while competing. Scored 82/100 against the full Baseball cohort.
- Peak88/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1991. Scored 88/100.
- Longevity96/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 20 years of competition and 20 recorded seasons. Scored 96/100.
- Honours84/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 84/100.
- Statistics90/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 90/100.
Top Ripken comparisons
Cal Ripken Jr. — frequently asked
- Is Cal Ripken Jr. the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Cal Ripken Jr. ranks 21st in Baseball with a GOAT Score of 87.6, behind Hank Aaron on 93.7.
- What is Cal Ripken Jr.'s GOAT Score?
- 87.6 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 82 (25%), Peak 88 (20%), Longevity 96 (20%), Honours 84 (20%), Statistics 90 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Cal Ripken Jr. rank all time?
- 315th of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 21st within Baseball.
- Cal Ripken Jr. vs Derek Jeter: who ranks higher?
- Derek Jeter, on 88.4 against Cal Ripken Jr.'s 87.6 — a margin of 0.8 points.