NEW YORK STAFF WRITER JASON LACANFORA CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ARTICLE. — NEW YORK -- Orioles owner Peter Angelos, strongly disagreeing with a suggestion by Cal Ripken that the team is struggling because the players are adjusting to a new manager and front-office staff, said yesterday that the club lacks leadership and challenged Ripken to assume that responsibility.
"This team is in desperate need of leadership on the field and around the clubhouse, and no one is more qualified than Cal Ripken to provide that leadership," Angelos said yesterday. "If Cal accepts that challenge with as much zeal as he plays and goes about his business of preparing to play every day, there's no question the Orioles will be able to reach their potential."
Ripken offered no comment after the Orioles' 7-4 win last night, but his brother Bill was quick to defend him.
"If Cal's not the first guy that everyone goes to for advice, then he's the second guy," Bill Ripken said.
The utility infielder cited such players as Bobby Bonilla and Chris Hoiles as among those who have gone to his big brother for personal help.
"After 14 years, you can't just turn that [vocal leadership] on," Bill said. "What would happen if he did chew somebody out? I think people would lose respect for him. There are leaders who go out there and stir it up, but they've stirred it up since Day 1, and that's how they got to be a leader."
Meeting with the New York media Thursday, Cal Ripken was asked for reasons the team isn't playing to expectations. One of the contributing factors, Ripken indicated, was that the team has required a period of adjustment for the players to get to know manager Davey Johnson, for Johnson to know the players, and for the players to know each other.
"People lose sight of the fact that we've assembled a team of new faces," Ripken said. "The coaches are new. Management is new. It requires jelling. It's a process where we have to learn each other."
Angelos disagreed vehemently with that assessment.
"I was mystified by the comments attributed to Cal," Angelos said from his law office in Baltimore, "that one of the reasons the Orioles are underachieving is because of unfamiliarity with Davey Johnson and Pat Gillick.
"My problem with this is that it ignores the obvious -- the Yankees are led by a new manager, Joe Torre, and a new GM, Bob Watson. They've got new players, Tino Martinez, Joe Girardi, Doc Gooden, Mariano Duncan, Jeff Nelson. And Derek Jeter."
