1. Year Ripken broke into the major leagues: 1981
2. Dow Jones Industrial Average on the day of his debut: 943
3. Major-league minimum salary in 1982: $33,500
4. Ripken's salary in 1982, his first full year in the majors: $200,000
5. Ripken's salary in 2001: $6.3 million
6. Estimated total salary from 1982 to 2001: $73 million
7. Estimated percentage of income Ripken derives from sale of memorabilia: 25
8. Number of Ripken-related items selling on eBay: 5,434
9. Price of Ripken-autographed home jersey: $899
10. Price of Ripken action figure: $19.95
11. Price of autographed 1987 Sports Illustrated issue with Cal Sr., Cal Jr., and Billy Ripken on the cover: $499
12. Number of times Ripken appeared on cover of Sports Illustrated: 6
13. Number of times Ripken appeared on a box of Wheaties: 5
14. Amazon.com sales ranking of his autobiography, The Only Way I Know: 63,146
15. Number of fans who voted for Ripken as an All-Star from 1982 to 2001: 36 million
16. Attendance at Memorial Stadium and Camden Yards (projected) from 1982 to 2001: 55 million
17. Number of managers Ripken played for: 9
18. Number of Ripken hits: 3,171
19. Total distance Ripken ran on those hits: 88 miles
20. Number of major-league players to go on the disabled list during Ripken's consecutive-games streak: 3,695
21. Number on the Oriole jersey that will soon hang in the Baseball Hall of Fame: 8
Sources: 1, Baltimore Orioles. 2, New York Times. 3, 4, 5, and 6, various news reports. 7, Forbes. 8, eBay.com (as of September 10). 9 and 11, Grandstand Sports and Memorabilia. 10, Goodnow's Action Figure Mart. 12, Sports Illustrated. 13, General Mills Corporation. 14. Amazon.com (as of September 10). 15, Major League Baseball. 16, Baseballstats.com and Baltimore Sun. 17 and 20, TheBaseballPage.com. 18, ESPN.com (as of September 12).
