Cal Ripken Jr is moving on.
The baseball legend, 57, is selling his 25-acre mansion just north of Baltimore and relocating to Annapolis.
Ripken purchased the six-bedroom 21,000-square-foot home in Reisterstown in 1984 when he was just 24 years old. The shortstop was two years into his 21 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles when he bought the property, the Washington Post reports.
The house has changed significantly since Ripken snatched it up in his early 20s. The property now includes a full-size baseball field, a basketball court, workout room and a personalized locker room.
Cal Ripken Jr is selling his 25-acre Maryland mansion in an auction on May 12
The house has a full-court indoor basketball court, which Ripken said he and his teammates used to train during baseball’s offseason
There is also a fully equipped gym in the mansion, located in Reisterstown, just north of Baltimore
Movie time: The home features a ‘jewel-like move theater’ which can seat 11 people
Ripken also designed an enclosed batting cage in the house and locker room with his own designated locker. He kept some of his 2131 memorabilia in the locker room
The outside of the house includes a patio and in-ground pool. The home is 21,000-square-feet
Ripken told the Post that he did a lot of research when redesigning the house, admitting that over the years the house grew ‘bigger than it should’.
Outside, Ripken has a regulation-size baseball diamond with two goal posts so it can convert to a football field. Not far from home plate is a large rock with the inscription ‘2131’, the numbers his teammates gave him in 1995 when he broke Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive games played.
The sprawling grounds also include an in-ground pool, pool house, picnic area, a large patio, a guest house and a ‘scenic pond’.
The inside of the house is just as impressive as the outside. The six-bedroom mansion has 10 full bathrooms and five half bathrooms, an eight-car garage, multiple fireplaces and an office space.
Ripken, or whoever purchases the home next, can also check out the latest films in a ‘jewel-like movie theater’ that can seat 11 people.
The retired athlete also has an 8,000-square-foot indoor full-court basketball gym. Ripken told the Post that he and his teammates would practice on the court during baseball’s offseason.
Above the basketball court is a fully equipped workout room and an enclosed batting cage complete with an automatic pitching machine. Ripken also has a ‘bat cellar’ which once housed 600 wooden bats and other equipment.
Ripken said the kitchen is his favorite room in the house. Some of his favorite meals are turkey pot pie, road roast, hamburger stew and meatloaf
The home has six bedrooms, 10 full bathrooms and five half bathrooms. Pictured is the dining room, which leads out to a patio
Ripken purchased the home in 1984 when he was just 24 years old. The shortstop was two years into his 21 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles
Ripken said he learned to cook when his mother sent him off the minor leagues with a binder of some of his favorite recipes
The house has gone through a lot of changes since it was first purchased. Ripken admitted the house grew ‘bigger than it should’
The former infielder is now living in Annapolis, Maryland. The home will go on sale at an auction in May
He kept his 2131 memorabilia in a personalized locker room and training room, where he had a designated locker. Ripken told the Post that the room was modeled after Camden Yards, a baseball field in Baltimore where the Orioles play.
Everything in the locker room, from the ice machine to the massage table, is a reproduction of what he and his teammates used.
‘It’s important to know the ice is therapeutic ice that you put in ice wraps. It’s the exact same ice machine that’s in Camden Yards,’ he said.
According to Ripken, the 300-gallon steel tub in his training room is the ‘original tub from Memorial Stadium that all the old Colts and all the old Orioles sat in’. The shower heads in the shower room are also originals.
‘It’s the feeling of what you were used to,’ he explained, adding that he researched everything before adding it to the room.
‘I’m analytical, and I analyze every bit of what I do. This is not a spa. This a locker room. It’s the clubhouse,’ he said.
Ripken’s favorite room in the massive house is his kitchen. The former MLB star said he learned to cook when he was in the minor leagues after his mother left him with a binder full of his favorite recipes, which includes turkey pot pie, road roast, hamburger stew and meatloaf.
The Post reports that the house was originally on the market for $12.5million but the price was dropped last year to $9.7million. Now, the house will be sold through an auction on May 12.
Next to Ripken’s baseball field is a large rock inscribed with ‘2131’, the numbers his teammates gave him in 1995 when he broke Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive games played
Ripken put a lot of care into re-designing his house. He said he did a lot of research when deciding what to add
Family room: Pictured is a living room in the 25-acre six-bedroom house
Ripken said he’s in a ‘very good place’ now and doesn’t have time to look back on the past
The mansion was originally on the market for $12.5million but the price was dropped last year to $9.7million
Open house begins Saturday, April 14 and will be held every weekend by appointment only until the auction date.
For now, Ripken is renting a home in Annapolis telling the Post that he is in a ‘very good place’.
In 2016, Ripken and his wife Kelly went through a shocking divorce after 30 years of marriage. The pair, who share two kids together, Rachel and Ryan, never revealed why they split.
The former infielder is now dating Anne Arundel County circuit judge Laura Kiessling. They have been together for over a year.
”I’m in a very good place. I think more about moving forward than behind. One day, maybe I’ll sit down in my rocking chair and look back and reflect. Right now, I’ve got other things to do,’ he said.
In 2016, Ripken and his wife of 30 years Kelly Ripken (left) divorced. The pair did not reveal what led to their shocking split
Ripken (center) shares two children with his ex-wife, Rachel (right) and Ryan (left). The family is pictured at an Orioles game in September 2001
Ripken is now dating Anne Arundel County circuit judge Laura Kiessling. They have been together for over a year