Real heroes: Ripken and Gwynn inducted into Hall

Cal Ripken Jr. had been there before, at the center of baseball's biggest celebration. And just like the first time, he found the words Sunday to put it all into perspective.

Ripken left hundreds of fans teary-eyed during his 15-minute National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony speech, a moment that echoed his 1995 lap at Camden Yards in Baltimore after breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games-played record.

"Today is about celebrating the best baseball has been, and the best baseball can be," Ripken told a record crowd of 70,000-plus fans squeezed into every available spot of grass at the Clark Sports Center and even across Susquehanna Avenue. He spoke of the difference his children have made his life, choking up briefly at one point, and how that helped him find his life's true focus.