Orioles Rookie Gets Blessing From Cal Ripken Jr
There was a bit of a question in the air because the newest Orioles rookie to take Major League Baseball wishes to wear Cal Ripken Sr’s number, seven. Jackson Holliday is the son of Major League Baseball veteran Matt Holliday. Jackson was recently promoted to the majors to play second base for the Baltimore Orioles.
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Father of Orioles Rookie
His dad, Matt, wore number seven throughout his long baseball career. He played for the Colorado Rockies and the St, Louis Cardinals with brief stints with the Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees.
Matt Holliday, father of Jackson Holliday, the Orioles Rookie (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images)
Jackson Holliday was the number one overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft and has been a highly touted prospect in the Baltimore Orioles system. He finally got his chance to play Major League Baseball with his debut on Wednesday, April 10th at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox.
Wearing Number Seven For The Orioles
Here’s the only hold up, number seven was worn by the late Cal Ripken Sr. who, you guessed it, is the father of the Hall of Fame player Cal Ripken Jr. He also was a former major leaguer himself and manager of the Orioles. Recently, the MLB X (formerly Twitter) account posted that “The Iron Man is pumped to watch Jackson Holliday put on his dad’s Orioles jersey No. 7!”
The Iron Man is pumped to watch Jackson Holliday put on his dad's @Orioles jersey No. 7! pic.twitter.com/BuGlAsIAUL
— MLB (@MLB) April 10, 2024
He confirmed retweeting the above tweet saying “it’s true” so we know it happened. Plus he even added this on Twitter.
Our family is thrilled that @J_Holliday7 will be wearing dad's #7 ... Excited to watch him play!
— Cal Ripken, Jr. (@CalRipkenJr) April 10, 2024
Father Son Connection
The reason Jackson is wearing number seven is to honor his dad and continue the tradition. His father wore number seven, it’s only fitting for him to do so. And now, if there’s a group of people who can understand the relationship between baseball dad’s and son’s, it would have to be the Ripken family.
So it comes as no surprise to me that Cal Jr. is all in for this switch. According to SportsIllustrated, “The No. 7 has been unofficially retired by the Orioles in honor of Cal Ripken Sr., who spent 36 years in the organization as a manager and coach building up ‘The Oriole Way.'”
His First MLB RBI
Congrats to Jackson Holliday for making his debut. In his first game, he didn’t end up recording a hit but he did get an RBI! Check out the video here of his entire MLB debut.
Big congrats to Jackson. Here’s to the start of what is hopefully a long major league career!
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Jeff Kurkjian
Jeff Kurkjian grew up in Montgomery County, Maryland and now is proud to call Philadelphia, home. He and his wife, Emily, just welcomed their baby girl, McKinley to the world. In his spare time, he loves to binge watch the latest shows and work on his own podcast called “Do What You Love.”
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