HALL OF FAME / 'Iron Man' Ripken could soften today

San Francisco Chronicle - CA, USA - Cal Ripken Jr., baseball's "Iron Man" and heretofore the embodiment of boundless energy, is tired.

Dead tired.

He's running on adrenaline. And he's anxious.

Now that the six-plus months of hype building up to today's Hall of Fame induction are over, Ripken just wants to get through today and get some sleep.

"I guess (there is) a little anxiety that is running a little higher than it normally would run. I feel that," Ripken said Saturday at his final news conference before he officially becomes a Hall of Famer. "I also feel a sense of fatigue that I have never felt before. I think it will be relief after this is all over."

Normally a man in total control, Ripken, wearing a dark suit without a tie and a look of exhaustion on his face, said he has loved being around other Hall of Famers. But he also said the whole process has been "nerve-racking."

"I equate this to either getting married again or having a baby," Ripken said. "There's a ninth-month period in having a baby, and at some point you want to have the baby. You want to say, 'Let's go I'm really happy it is here, and now it is time to have the wedding or time to have the baby.' "