It’s July 13th, and I’m doing what I normally do on a Friday night. I’m hanging out with a crew of my friends in town. We aren’t really doing anything worth-while, but we’re having fun anyways.

On this particular Friday night the game-plan was a good one. We were going to Hooters to get our wing on while we watched some baseball, which we’d follow-up with a trip to the movies. After eating a little more than a dozen wings, and before we were going to go to the movies, I dropped by my house to check my e-mail.

I would never make it to the movie theatre that night, because the first e-mail I opened changed my plans for the rest of the night. It was from the producer of my radio show at XM, Jeremiah Tittle, who also produced “Ripken Baseball,” a talk-show hosted by Cal and Billy Ripken.

In the e-mail I opened Tittle informed me that I would be co-hosting “Ripken Baseball” with Cal Ripken, because his brother Billy - who generally co-hosts the show - was on travel. This announcement shouldn’t have come as a shock to me, as Jeremiah had mentioned the possibility of me co-hosting a few days previous. But generally things that sound that good don’t materialize, so I had just assumed that me getting the chacne to host with Cal wouldn’t happen. I assumed wrong.

The following morning I hosted my show, Minors and Majors, from 8am to 10am eastern like I always do. I ran through the scores of all of the games from the night before in the first segment. I talked to guests, Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell and former Major League Baseball General Manager Jim Beattie, and I took calls from listeners.

I had fun doing the show, as I always do. But all I could think about the whole time was 10am, which is when “Ripken Baseball” starts. I’ve talked to Cal a couple-dozen times in the past. The first time I met him was on Opening Day 1999 at Camden Yards in Baltimore when I was 10-years-old. I was lucky enough to do a one-on-one interview with him just above the top-step of the Orioles dugout.

But this opportunity was going to be different though. I was going to have the chance to work with, or alongside I should say, the player I idolized more than any other as a sports fan growing up in Virginia. I was going to be able to chat with him for a couple straight hours about the game he played, and nearly perfected, and I was going to be able to do it just two weekends before he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame.

What a joy and a pleasure it was to have experienced the amazing thrill of co-hosting a baseball talk-show with one of the greatest baseball players of my time. In addition to him just being one of the best of my time, he was also my favorite player in history. I’ll never forget that day, Saturday June the 14th, nor will I ever do a broadcast I am more excited about.

That day - the day I co-hosted with Cal, is one that I’ll never forget. And when I’m old and I look back on my career, it’s probably going to be one of the first recollections that comes to mind.