They 8 up Cal souvenir

If thousands of strangers were going to invade their hometown to honor Cal Ripken Jr., Ted and Sean Mebust were at least going to make a buck.

"Cal Rocks because Cal rocks," they chanted as fans streamed toward yesterday's Hall of Fame induction.

The boys had collected more than 50 black rocks from their backyard and local streambeds and had painted orange 8s on them. They sold the big ones for $3 and the little ones for $1, figuring visitors might want to leave with actual pieces of Cooperstown.

By 11 a.m. yesterday, they had already sold dozens.

The boys, ages 7 and 9, have long looked forward to Ripken's induction.

"Their dad's got the night he broke the streak record on video, and he's always been the one player they've heard most about," said their mother, Lynne. "They wanted to do something special."

That something special wasn't something unique. Down the block, 11-year-olds Aaron Idelson and Scott Arnett sold more elaborately decorated rocks. They offered brown "Gwynn" stones (along with free gum) as well. They'd been smashing the rocks for weeks.

"It's great," Arnett said, "because it's pure profit."


The Sun shines for paper investor

Ray Datema of Vermont spent the weekend on Main Street, hawking copies of the Sept. 7, 1995, edition of The Sun.

Of course, that's the day after Cal Ripken played in his 2,131st consecutive game and broke Lou Gehrig's supposedly unbreakable record. It's also the day Datema and partner John Kaye ordered 3,000 copies of the paper for resale purposes.

"Most of the guys [in the Hall of Fame] are regional, but Cal is a hero for everyone," Datema said.

He has been selling the papers, some of them slightly yellowed, for $10 apiece at memorabilia shows and over the Internet and said he has only about 300 left. That would represent a massive profit over the $3,000 it cost to buy the papers and have them shipped to him.


Figurative weight is the least of it

In the days and weeks leading up to the induction ceremony, both Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn spent plenty of time talking about the state of their nerves. While Ripken mentioned the speech and maintaining his composure, there was an unexpected obstacle that almost got him yesterday: holding his Hall of Fame plaque.

"I did think it was really heavy... that was my first feeling," he said. "You don't expect that. I thought I could drop it on my toe, it could be pretty embarrassing. There was a brief moment of that."