Cal Ripken, Internet Death Threats, and the Way We Were

When you couldn't say that on the internet

Once upon a time, in the 1990s to be exact, it was frowned upon to make death threats on the internet. In fact, it was so frowned upon that the police would come looking for you and the object of the threat would receive police protection. That sounds unbelievable from a 2023 perspective, but in those very early days of home internet access, before we’d been internet-brained, that is in fact what happened when a death threat was made against Cal Ripken Jr. from the Seattle area in 1993.

Suffice it to say that a LOT has changed on the internet over the years.

As the Baltimore Orioles arrived in Seattle for a game on Monday, August 16, 1993 they learned that a death threat had been made against Ripken. At the time, most online access ran through three major online information companies: America Online, CompuServe, and Prodigy. You would sign up with one of these services and they would mail you a disk that you’d put into your computer, plug in your phone line, and after waiting to connect, voila! You were Online. The major draw of the internet then was bulletin boards and chat rooms.

Prodigy security officials based in New York saw a concerning message on one such bulletin board. Although the exact message was never shared with the media, it prompted Prodigy to begin a game of telephone, alerting the authorities about the message. Prodigy security called the New York Police Department, who called the Seattle Police Department, who called Kingdome security and the Bellevue Police Department, who called the police in Medina, WA, a suburb of either Bellevue or Seattle, depending how you want to look at it.

The phone call to Kingdome security came shortly before game time. In response, two King County Sheriff's Deputies were assigned to keep watch over Ripken during the game, and another would escort him back to the team hotel after the game. If that seems like an overreaction to a message on an internet bulletin board, keep in mind that Kingdome security had a few reasons to be on alert when it came to Ripken anyway.

Less than fourth months before, tennis player Monica Seles had been stabbed by a fan of her rival during a match. It was a shocking attack that made people realize athletes were pretty vulnerable out there on the field, and Ripken was beginning to garner attention from less savoring baseball fans. Although he was still a couple years away from breaking Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive games played, the record was in reach, a situation that was, as the Seattle Times wrote, “dramatic for some fans.”¹ (This was during the Clinton administration and boy did we love euphemisms then.) 

In addition, this was the first game the Mariners and the Orioles played since the infamous brawl between the two teams when Bill Hasselman charged the mound after he was hit by Mike Mussina. You’ve likely heard of this brawl, and if not, it’s a classic and really great for remembering some guys:

(Ripken injured his knee during the brawl, but I guess his knee was made of iron like the rest of him and they just welded it back together and on he played.)

While Kingdome security was hustling to make sure Ripken was protected, the Medina police set out to investigate the threat. Medina police went to the address provided by Prodigy that Monday night and knocked on the door. Nobody was home. So they parked outside the house and waited. And waited. They waited for nearly 16 hours. On Tuesday, the perpetrator arrived home.

Given the stakeout, the police must have been surprised. Instead of rough, burly man they were greeted by a 14-year-old girl. She had a boyfriend in New Jersey who was a big Cal Ripken fan. Relationships when you’re 14 are always sooooo mature. She had decided to post a death threat on the bulletin board they both frequented in order to mess with him.

Median Police Chief Joe Race told reporters that he and her older sister both lectured her about the seriousness of what she did (her parents were out of town on vacation). She was apologetic and promised to never do it again. Although no criminal charges were filed, she and her parents were billed $750 for the cost of the extra officers required to keep watch over Ripken for two days. Race said that she had been punished enough by the time her sister got done chewing her out. Besides, Race said, “She lives in a beautiful house and comes from a nice family.”² Nobody who lives in a beautiful house has ever killed anyone, you know.

From a 2023 perspective, everything about this feels like a massive overreaction. Several times a year a baseball player or their wife posts a message to social media pleading with fans to stop sending death threats over a blown save or a poor offensive performance. And everyone collectively shrugs their shoulders and says, “That’s just what happens on the internet.”

To be sure, there’s always posts in response reminding people that sending death threats over a baseball game is a mean thing to do. The threats are often deleted or removed eventually. Unfortunately death threats to athletes have always come with the territory. Henry Aaron was famously inundated with them as he approached Babe Ruth’s home run record. The threat against Ripken, though, was a switch away from phone calls and scribbled letters and into a new type of communication. You don’t even have to be famous to get death threats on the internet now. In 1993, it was taken seriously, as it should have been. But in the 30 years since that threat was made, they no longer draw much attention. That’s certainly one of the downsides of the internet as it shifted away from the early days and has reinvented itself. The goal posts for acceptable behavior have moved and been reinvented right alongside the internet.

So, we are left with an amusing story about the early days of the internet. It’s pretty funny, and is so specifically of a certain time in the world. Sometimes we look back on these types of stories and find ourselves amazed at how far we’ve come. 

This story, on the other hand, is something that we should look back on and think about how far we’ve allowed the goal posts to move.

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Odds & Ends

I’ve got a few random thoughts and links I need to share.

Simone Biles and Babe Ruth

Simone Biles had a successful comeback last Saturday at the US Classic meet. She didn’t perform the triple-double on floor, but she had an upgraded second pass of a front full through to a double twisting double back, which probably means nothing to you if you don’t know gymnastics, but trust me, it’s wildly impressive. She also performed the Yurchenko double pike vault and it was STUNNING.

There’s just not enough superlatives to describe her. She’s got a combination of drive, technique, ambition, and talent that’s incredibly rare. Now, I don’t enjoy Greatest Of All Time conversations. I find them tedious and annoying. But she is in the echelon of athlete that inspires those conversations. A few years ago, after noting the extent to which she dominates the competition and how much more advanced her gymnastics is than the next group of (truly top tier!) gymnasts, I wondered who in the history of sports compares to her.

At the time (this was pre-Shohei Ohtani) the only athlete I could think of was Babe Ruth, when he began really hitting home runs. I was taking another look at the numbers this weekend because it’s really astonishing and we can never have too much Babe Ruth, right?

1918 was the first year he led the major leagues in home runs. He hit 11, tied with Tillie Walker of the Philadelphia Athletics. In 1919, he led the majors all by himself with 29 home runs. The next highest total was from Gavvy Cravath of the Philadelphia Phillies. Then, the Roaring Twenties rolled along and his bat roared along with the new decade, hitting 54 home runs. The next highest total was from George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns with 19. In 1921, he maintained his 35-home run lead, hitting 59 while his teammate Bob Meusel and Ken Williams of the St. Louis Browns each hit 24.

By the time 1927 arrived, the power hitters were starting to wake up. The Babe hit 60 that season, and “only” held a 13-home run lead over his teammate, Lou Gehrig’s 47. The next highest total, though, from Hack Wilson and Cy Williams, was 30.

We all know Babe Ruth was game-changingly good. It’s nice to take some time and sit with the numbers because it’s truly mind blowing how much more advanced his power game was than his contemporaries.

Links of Interest

- The Washington State Library tweeted out a story last week about the baseball teams at the Northern State Hospital in Skagit County. I find nothing more delightful than finding baseball in unexpected places, so I appreciated this article. I also enjoyed the content note:

NOTE: People interested in visiting the Washington State Library to read more about the team’s exploits should be aware that coverage of the games at times included racist and culturally insensitive language.

This is a warning that needs to be on all old newspapers! For all the delightful writing and old timey turns of phrase, there is horrifying writing and unquotable phrases.

- Eric Gilde had a thread on Twitter about Ed Delahanty, a late 19th century slugger who met a terrible? fascinating? unbelievable? end. 

- Seven years ago yesterday, the Mariners retired Ken Griffey Jr.’s number. I wasn’t just lucky enough to be there, it was also the first baseball game ever for Kid #1. She was 10 months old and was far more interested in the airplanes flying over the field (and she pointed out every single one) than she was in the baseball, but that’s such a cool first game. I hope she’ll appreciate it someday.

That game inspired my favorite thing I’ll ever write. I share this every chance I get because it means a lot to me. Seeing the anniversary of that game really hit me in the feels yesterday. Baseball will do that to you!

1. CLUTTER, STEPHEN. "POLICE CALL FOUL ON GIRL'S COMPUTER `DEATH THREAT' AGAINST BASEBALL STAR." THE SEATTLE TIMES, August 19, 1993: A1

2. CLUTTER, "POLICE CALL FOUL", A1