Cal Ripken Jr. a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, will be the featured speaker at the annual Seattle University Baseball "Meet the Redhawks" Dinner, to take place Tuesday, Jan. 31, at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center.
Ripken played 21 seasons at shortstop and third base for the Baltimore Orioles, collecting 3,184 career hits, including 431 home runs, and 1,695 runs batted in while appearing in 3,001 career games. From May 30, 1982, through Sept. 19, 1998, he played in 2,632 straight games, breaking the previous record of 2,130 games set by Lou Gehrig. Ripken won two Most Valuable Player awards, appeared in 19 straight All-Star Games, and helped the Orioles win the 1983 World Series.
This is the second straight year that a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame has been the keynote speaker during the Meet the Redhawks Dinner, as Tommy Lasorda, famous manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, was the speaker at last year's kickoff event. Entering its third competitive year after being reestablished as a varsity sport, the Seattle University baseball team won 21 games during the 2011 season, almost doubling its win total from the previous year.
The event will begin with a no-host cocktail reception and silent auction at 5:30 p.m., followed by the dinner program at 6:30 p.m. The cost to attend the event is $75 per person, or $550 for a table of eight. For those who are interested in attending a VIP reception with Ripken from 5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m., the cost is $250 per person, or $1,800 for a table of eight, and that reception is limited to the first 70 people who register.
Registration is available on GoSeattleU.com by clicking on the Special Events tab on the top right portion of the website. For more information, contact Greg Sempadian at sempadig@seattleu.edu or 206-398-4420. Registration will be closed Friday, Jan. 27, so reserve your seat as soon as possible to support the Redhawk baseball program.