Ripken, his career in the balance of his pain threshold, held an informal lunch with reporters Tuesday upon his arrival at O's camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Q: How have you been feeling this spring?

Cal Ripken met with reporters over lunch at the O's spring training complex.(AP)

A: I was really, really pleasantly surprised with what I was able to do. I thought there would be some movement, but I'm able to run and throw the ball easily. I'm able to use pain as my guide for running and lifting some weights. So at the least I'm able to maintain what [fitness] I have, if not make some gains. I'm not able to hit because of the torque movement. I can't take ground balls, though I think I would be able to. We'll have to determine my limitations by actually trying it. [The rib injury] is going to heal on its own anyway, as long as I don't do anything to hinder it.

Q: Do you think you would've had these injuries if they had occurred when you were younger, before you played all those games?

A: I asked the doctor the same thing. If I had this rib [injury] when I was 25, would it have broke? And [the doctor] said, 'Yeah, it would have broken.' I don't know if he was just being nice.

Q: What were you able to do to get ready for spring training, outside of your workouts?

A: When you're in a cold-weather climate, you're limited as far as what you can do baseball-wise. [Aside from working out,] I played basketball a lot this offseason. The last few weeks I've been playing five times a week.

Q: Do you think you will be ready when the season begins despite the layoff?

A: I'm not worried at all skill-wise, but I'll miss a little bit hitting- and throwing-wise. When things happen [that cause pain], for a few minutes I feel sorry for myself, but then you look for positives. A regular doesn't need six weeks of spring training. Physically and mentally you need to get ready, and then you're ready for the season to start. In previous seasons, you get ready and you want the season to start, and you realize there's two weeks left [in spring training] and it's a letdown. I'll let it heal, but I'm not worried one bit about being ready for the season.

Q: What's the difference between this season and last season for you in terms of injuries?

A: Last year, I didn't know what I was dealing with surgery-wise. They say you're fine but then your body reacts to the surgery. Last year was different because of that. But I feel totally different this year. Last year I had to make the gains [in fitness] down here. But this year I just have to tweak here.

Q: Does your back kind of put a cloud over this season, like if you make one false move you could re-injure it?

A: I don't feel like I have a cloud over my head by any means. I'm a year-plus removed from [surgery], and I'm hopeful that's behind me. In the middle of January, I didn't think one bit about my back, and normally I'd be worried all the time. I'm not worried about making one false move. I think I'm past that.

Q: Without milestones, what kinds of goals do you have for this season?

A: I think the biggest goal for me this year, and this goes with some of the stubbornness I've had, is I want to play and I want to play a lot. I'd like to play a full season. Now what a full season means now is different than what it was for me before [the injuries], probably not 162 games. Maybe 150.

It's going to be hard when you're swinging the bat well, and then ... to not play. I'm going to be more cautious, but I can't say. But I'd like to keep it open-ended. We just have to see what happens.

Q: Do you think you could've avoided missing so much time last season if you had rested more often?

Ripken was relegated to watching Jeff Conine take spring drills Tuesday.(AP)

A: It's a give-and-take proposition. In hindsight, I would've certainly given up two weeks or three weeks instead of three months. Maybe two weeks wouldn't have solved the problem.

Q: Are you thinking more about retirement and when you'll call it quits?

A: I look at it as every year might be my last. You reach a point where reality is reality and you can't change it. And what determines it is what happens during that year. If it hadn't gone well last September, I probably would be retiring right now.

Q: Are you wary of the media coverage when you become the story instead of the team?

A: I didn't totally enjoy the attention I received in 1995, when the focus is on you instead of the team. But I did enjoy the opportunity to talk about the game and what a great game it is. I don't know what it means in terms of my career, but I feel comfortable in that role. I enjoy the game, my brother enjoyed the game and I feel strongly about it.

Q: Does the Orioles' rebuilding effort make it tougher to set goals?

A: You'd like to be in the position the Yankees are. But in a moment like this, you look at a model, maybe the A's. I also look at our team in '89. That was a very fulfilling year. So I'd rather choose the optimistic view. I'd rather look at it as if you work hard and look for something, that something positive can come out of it.

At this point, I appreciate each day, each moment a little bit more because I've been through so much. If I won the World Series again, I'd have a better appreciation of it. When we won in my second [full] year, I thought we'd be there every year.

Q: Do you feel like you can relate more to what Albert Belle is going through now?

A: One of the positives of being injured is you gain an insight that you can't get unless you go through it. That's one of the toughest things you can go through. I can imagine there's a lot of frustration going through Albert.

Q: You talked about playing a full season. Does that mean playing the field all the time, or possibly playing at DH?

A: If a manager feels I could serve the team better in a DH role, I'd like to understand his logic better. But if he feels that's best for the team, that's his decision to make.

Q: Have you thought about what you'll do after retirement?

A: I don't know exactly what I'll do when I quit playing. I know there will be a huge chunk of time open. I know I get energized with our youth initiatives.

Q: What about becoming a manager?

A: Managing appeals to me from a baseball standpoint. But one of the things is I want to be able to make my own schedule. I don't want to be stuck to a game schedule. I don't want to know what I'm doing on Aug. 22 already. So when the window of opportunity with my kids changes, maybe.

I don't find comfort in that schedule. I find comfort in doing things. I find that in challenges. To me, youth initiatives and teaching do that. Someday, being able to do that with a professional organization appeals to me. That would be a fascinating job. But I look for something that challenges me all day long. Judging by my recent schedule, I have no doubt I'll find it.

Q: It sounds like you're more geared toward a front-office position.

A: I wouldn't rule out any kind of opportunity. But as a manager or a coach, I think that doubles the time that I'm putting in now. So while that's appealing down the road, that's not something I might want to do right away.

Q: You talked about taking your career one year at a time and deciding if you want to play another year after that. Is there a chance you might get into a season and hang it up if if your injuries start bothering you?

A: I'm not ruling out that I may decide this season that it's too hard, it's not worth it. I could retire this season. But I would like to have a full season, see how I feel, look back on it and decide where to go.

Q: If you do have a successful season, could you still decide to retire and go out on your own terms?

A: That would be a good position to be in. And that could be either/or. But that's a position I'd like to be in.