If there's a word to describe Cal Ripken, Junior, it's loyal. In 2001, the shortstop and third baseman ended a 21-year run with the Baltimore Orioles with record-holding 2,632 consecutive games played. In 2007, he was inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame with the most votes in history.

He’s also a loyal hometown boy, growing up in Aberdeen in Harford County. “Like every other kid around here, I dreamed of playing for the Orioles,” he says--and he did.Today he’s helping make other kids’ baseball dreams into reality, with youth camps and tournament facilities at the Ripken Academy in Aberdeen.

His newest initiative, the Memorial Stadium Project, will develop an all-purpose, low-maintenance field on the revered north Baltimore spot where the Orioles played until 1991.  Groundbreaking is projected for this fall.

“A lot of times the toughest areas where kids really need help are ignored,” Ripken says. “People like to be together. We need community gathering points.”