(CNN) -- Cal Ripken Jr. will always be known for his consecutive games played streak, but it may surprise many people that just two years into his big-league career, he already was planning for life after baseball.



Cal Ripken Jr. is introduced to the crowd at the 2002 All-Star Game in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.



While many of the athletes who took to the playing fields of major league baseball this season only are focused on the game, Ripken began saving and planning for retirement long before his career neared its end.



"When I joined the Orioles [in 1982], the team was transitioning," said Ripken, who will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in July. "I saw guys who were 34, 35, 36 years old -- still young guys -- about to get out of the game, and I wondered what will they do now?



"It got me thinking about what I would want to do when I got out of the game. Most people don't realize how fast the time goes, but I turned those questions on myself."



Though he quickly points out that he didn't dwell on those questions, Ripken admits it got him thinking, and eventually planning, so that when retirement came in 2001, the shift from baseball to business was easy.



"From the outside, I'm sure it looked like a smooth transition just by virtue of the fact that I had another thing to go into," he said. "I had prepared for what was next."



These days, five seasons after retiring from a 21-year career he spent with the Baltimore Orioles, Ripken is a businessman, team owner, radio-show host and author. He also will be a baseball analyst for TBS, which like CNN.com is owned by Time Warner.



Ripken jumped full time into his company, Ripken Baseball, without taking any break, lessening the emotional jolt of retirement.



"I didn't give myself the luxury of taking a month off [after the baseball season]," he said. "I think I would have opened myself up to regret, thinking about the past. I had to get a minor league baseball team in that stadium. I just put my head down and started working."



Ripken's first post-baseball venture was developing a youth ballpark in his hometown of Aberdeen, Maryland, financed in part by a $75,000 gift from the Major League Baseball Players Association. It was presented to him the night he broke Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played.



Ripken was a "rookie" for the second time in his life, this time in business. "I was learning all over again, learning what was important," he said. "The off-season never went by so fast. I had meetings, phone calls, plans and long days in the office.



"By the time I looked up, [the Orioles] were at spring training. I didn't think, 'They left without me,' which is what I thought I would do."



Ripken's latest project is a business principles book called "Get in the Game: 8 Elements of Perseverance That Make the Difference," co-authored by Donald T. Phillips.



The book, available April 10, was born out a speech Ripken gave about the "secrets" of his success. Writing it turned out to be an emotional journey, he said.



"I got to reflect on what my parents had taught me, the values and principles, right and wrong," Ripken said. "It's good to be in touch with those things."



The fact is, whether in baseball or business, Ripken rarely strays from the principles he learned from his late father, Cal Sr., a former player and manager. The book is filled with anecdotes from on and off the field.



Now 46, Ripken is president and CEO of Ripken Baseball, and his brother, Bill, a former teammate, is executive vice president. The company owns minor league teams in Aberdeen and in
What does the former shortstop have lined up? What does Ripken do now? What is Ripkin's brother's name?
Ripken's latest project is a business principles book called "Get in the Game: 8 Elements of Perseverance That Make the Difference," is a businessman, team owner, radio-show host and author. Bill,
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