BALTIMORE — Orioles legend and Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. revealed Thursday that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in February and is “cancer free” after surgery in March.
“The surgery couldn’t have gone better,” Ripken said. “The outcome couldn’t have gone better, and I’ve resumed doing everything I did before. It’s a pretty miraculous few months.”
Baseball’s Ironman, who is preparing to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his breaking Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games record of 2,131 on Sept. 6, referred to the diagnosis as “a moment in your life that you don’t want to hear.
“We all know people that have had different cancers and you kind of wonder, how would you feel if it happened to you?” said Ripken, whose father, Cal Ripken Sr., died of lung cancer in 1999. “I know what that feels like now.”
Ripken said he had “no symptoms whatsoever” with a normal-sized prostate for someone his age. He turns 60 on Monday. Levels on his prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, which measures proteins that typically are contained to the prostate that reach the bloodstream, were moving “just incrementally,” Ripken said. He and his doctor thought that could be explained by him riding his bike or simple aging.
Still, he went to see a urologist, and tests there pushed Ripken to have a biopsy.
“When you get into this sort of age frame, I guess the risk factor continues to go up,” Ripken said. “It was just a precaution, and I’m thankful that I was pushed to do it.”
When that test turned up cancer, Ripken said he immediately thought to call his brother Bill to make sure his testing was up-to-date as well. The consensus for his own path forward was surgery. It’s recommended that patients wait three weeks after the biopsy for surgery, and Ripken said he didn’t have to schedule the surgery so soon after the biopsy, but the growing concerns around the COVID-19 pandemic pushed him to do it quickly.
Post-operation tests revealed that the cancer was contained to the prostate.
“You can resume your normal life, so I thank my lucky stars that occurred,” Ripken said.
According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, one in nine men will be affected by prostate cancer, making it the most common non-skin cancer. Risk factors shoot up exponentially once men reach 50, with 97% of cases occurring in men over that age and 60% of all cases in men 65 and older. Those with direct relatives who have had prostate cancer are also at increased risk.
Symptoms can include difficulties urinating and pain in that area of the body, though the PSA test and a digital rectal exam can screen for prostate cancer without symptoms.
Once it’s detected, 99% of patients whose cancer is contained to the prostate live for five years or more, according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
The Orioles legend kept his diagnosis largely quiet, but decided to share so others might discover similar issues by getting regularly scheduled checkups. It wasn’t an easy decision to go public, he said.
“During that time frame, you do a lot of thinking inside, reflecting inside. What is the meaning? It changes your view immediately of what’s happening around you. Sometimes, I internalize it. … I internalize my feelings, and wasn’t sure what to do with it besides doing all the medical things.
“But as far as sharing the story, and maybe have a positive benefit from that. In the beginning, I wasn’t too inclined to do that. … I guess maybe you feel like something’s wrong with you and that’s not something you want to share with everybody. But when I started to think about it and the reality of the situation, it’s a positive outcome and a positive situation and a positive story to tell other people to make sure that they get their regular physical. There’s an opportunity, at the very least, to create awareness around it.”
Ripken acknowledges men can sometimes have the tough-it-out mentality with their health that his own celebrated consecutive games streak was noted for.
“Sometimes, we as guys avoid that or think we’ll just go to the doctor when we need to,” Ripken said. “I thought that maybe my story, as lucky and as great as it is as a happy ending, could encourage and maybe bring the awareness that you should get checked. You should go to the doctors. You should do all the things necessary so you can catch something like this early because when you do, you have a lot of options and it’s a good outcome.”
Ripken noted that when he saw former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre speak out about his prostate cancer in 1999, he “thought that was a good thing that he was sharing his story for other people.”
Others around the game who have battled prostate cancer include Andre Dawson and Steve Garvey.
The announcement came on a Zoom call with local media in preparation for the 25th anniversary of Ripken’s 2,131st consecutive game next month.
There was meant to be a celebration of that anniversary at Camden Yards on Sept. 6 to commemorate the achievement, but Ripken said he and the team were still discussing how to best do that with no fans at the ballpark due to the coronavirus pandemic.
