Cal Ripken Offering $100K Reward for Info on Mother's Kidnapping Last Year

Remember last July that strange story involving Hall of Famer Cal Ripken’s mother being abducted at gunpoint? Quick refresher: Vi Ripken was taken from her home in Maryland and returned 24 hours later. Despite a dozen or so tips over the last year, local police have been unable to identify a suspect in the case.

Earlier this week Ripken held a press conference offering a $100,000 reward for any information that leads to a capture or conviction. Here’s what Baseball’s Iroman had to say, via the Associated Press report:

"“I think in some ways maybe this should’ve happened earlier,” Ripken said of the reward offered on behalf of his company, Ripken Baseball, and the Ripken family. “I think in the beginning … we were all hopeful that (an arrest) would happen pretty quickly and we were all encouraged. But, you know, it is what it is.”"

This whole case is a strange one. Ripken even had John Walsh, of “America’s Most Wanted” fame by his side during the press conference. When we hear about the family members of athletes being kidnapped, we tend to associate it with far-flung, remote places in Central or South America, not Aberdeen, Md.