"One more game."

Vi Ripken must have heard that thousands of times, or at least every time she tried to call the kids in for dinner while they were in the yard playing ball or down in the basement playing ping-pong. "One more game."

Cal Jr. turned that call into a creed. From May 29, 1982 to September 20, 1998 he played game after one more game, 2,632 in all. By then he had passed Lou Gehrig and probably the point of common sense: He should have sat one out to help the team and prolong his career. But, hey, he earned the right to make that decision, and like the Yankees did the night he took himself out of the lineup, I applauded him.

I first met Cal in the spring of '82 when I was doing a Sports Illustrated story on two rookies who were the sons of baseball men: Cal Ripken Jr. and Terry Francona. Cal was a third baseman then, replacing Doug DeCinces, who once carried little Cal off the field after shots rang out near the minor league ballpark Cal's father called home.

Over the years, I pressed memories of the Ripkens into my mind: He and Eddie Murray, touching fingers in a gesture of love and respect amid the celebration in the visiting clubhouse after the O's won the '83 Series; the grace he brought to shortstop -- despite the fact that he was the tallest to ever play the position; Cal and Billy wrestling on the floor of the Orioles clubhouse as if they were still kids back in Aberdeen, Md.; Cal signing autograph after autograph in the 100-degree-plus heat of the 1995 All-Star Game workout in Arlington; a lovely visit to the home of Vi and Cal Sr., who gave me a dozen tomatoes from his garden; the outpouring of love in Baltimore on September 6, 1995, when Junior broke Gehrig's mark; and just last spring, when I spotted him leaving Fort Lauderdale Stadium looking, for the first time in my eyes, tired.

I don't know Cal well, but I do know that what other people called his work ethic was really a joy ethic. Nobody loved baseball more. He has taken a lot of shots in recent years for being stubborn and selfish, and yes, like so many great stars before him, he stayed too long. But there was never a more tireless ambassador for the game, much less a tireless player.

It's nice that we still have a little more time to say goodbye to him. It's just going to be hard to realize that, well ...

No more games.

Steve Wulf is executive editor of ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at steve.wulf@espnmag.com.