Michael Phelps goes down the memory lane as he remembers watching 'Ironman' Cal Ripken in action

Michael Phelps recently went down memory lane as he remembered watching retired baseball player Cal Ripken Jr. in action. Nicknamed the 'Ironman,' Ripken Jr. was a shortstop/third baseman who represented the Baltimore Orioles throughout his 21-season career.

Phelps, who also hails from Baltimore, recently shared a tribute video to Cal Ripken Jr on his Instagram story. Initially posted on the Instagram page of the Baltimore Orioles, the video showed how Cal Ripken Jr. influenced not just his team but also the sport of baseball with his unique legacy.

Phelps talked about the time when he made a visit to one of his matches on his recent Instagram story. The Olympic champion swimmer wrote in the caption,

"Was special to watch the Ironman play..... sat on the third baseline, for 2130 and 2131. 30 years later"

Screengrab of Phelps' Instagram story about Cal Ripken Jr., aka the 'Ironman' [Image Source: Instagram]

Michael Phelps has been an avid supporter of the Baltimore Orioles for a long time. The Olympic champion attended their matches often, as he cheered the team on.

---

When Michael Phelps opened up on breaking generational silence about mental health

Michael Phelps talks about breaking silence on mental health [Image Source: Getty]

Michael Phelps once talked about breaking the traditional silence over mental health issues. Ever since his battle with depression nearly cost him his career in 2012, Phelps has been a strong advocate for the mental health of athletes.

Phelps previously shared a clip from the podcast titled 'A Safe Pool' on his Instagram profile, where he talked about how families are not very comfortable in conversing about the issue of mental health. In his words,

"You have to make that generational shift. You know, like my mom and her mom and their moms, or their parents, never talked about these things, right? They meant to put this front up, and they pretended like everything was okay, when in reality, that's not real, not knocking them like no harm, but it's just real."

The retired swimmer further added,

"You know, if we truly want to talk about it and make that change, then we have to address these things, and we have to be vulnerable and that's something that's scary for a lot of people. Becoming vulnerable and opening up and talking about the struggles that I was going through wasn't something that was easy."

Michael Phelps came out of his temporary retirement in 2014. The former swimmer went on to represent Team USA in multiple events until he finally retired from swimming after the Rio Olympics in 2016.