Former Baltimore Orioles star Cal Ripken Jr. is considering returning to Major League Baseball as a manager. Shortly after Washington Nationals slugger Jayson Werth suggested Ripken to become the club's next manager, Ripken appeared on "The Rich Eisen Podcast" and confirmed he's interested in trying his hand at managing.
With Davy Johnson retiring, the Nationals will begin the search for their next manager. Werth, who was drafted by the Orioles when Ripken was still playing, nominated Ripken to fill the team's vacancy.
"He would be my No. 1 choice," Werth said on Saturday, via the Washington Post.
While Ripken admitted he hasn't received any calls about managing a team, he did discuss his growing desire to return to the MLB as a manager.
"Well, I mean it's kind of funny where I sit," Ripken told Rich Eisen over the weekend, via The Post. "I have said that at some point I'd like to come back to baseball. And most recently, I said that I'm starting to get an itch to do that. But I'd have to look hard at any opportunity, and so far, I haven't been asked to do anything. So it's very flattering that people think of me that way, and I have thought about how cool it would be to manage.
"And even Donny Mattingly got me thinking about this a little bit more. He said there's nothing like being a player, and coaching is pretty good because you help other people do what it is that they do. But managing is the closest thing to being a player. And I've always thought that, anyway, internally.
"Now I'm starting to think about that a little bit more. So far I've got nothing new to report, but that's been the consistency, that I've made those statements. And I am getting a feeling that maybe I'd like to get back in."
Ripken is a Maryland native. Joining the Nationals, should the team be interested, would keep "The Iron Man" close to home.
