QUESTION: I'm here with the Secretary of State, Under Secretary of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes, and one of the most revered figures in sports history, Cal Ripken, Jr., an unusual trio. How did this come about?

UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: Well, we've been trying for years to recruit Cal Ripken to join in our efforts to reach out to young people across the world. And so Cal and I both have a shared -- is it okay to call you Cal? (Laughter.) You're a Hall of Famer and I'm calling you by your first name, but --

MR. RIPKEN: What else would you call me?

(Laughter.)

UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: But we have a shared interest in reaching out to young people and to sharing the best of America and Cal really represents the best of our country, just a lesson of hard work and -- with hard work and perseverance, you can achieve anything and he's gone on to great achievements and we want to share that with the young people around the world.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, as a huge sports fan, do you see sports having the ability to bring people of competing interests together?

SECRETARY RICE: Oh, absolutely. Sports is a universal language. It's a little bit like the arts. Everybody knows that if you play baseball like Cal Ripken, then you're going to be able to have the world around you, the world at your feet. And so for kids who want to be Cal Ripken, he's going to go out and I'll bet he'll find people who want to be Cal Ripken in Pakistan and people who want to be -- (laughter) -- Cal Ripken in Guatemala and people who want to be Cal Ripken in Europe. And that's the wonderful thing about sports. It really transcends culture and it transcends identity.

QUESTION: Well, Mr. Ripken, let's call -- it's fair to say I am clearly the envy of every baseball fan in this country right now. How do you think your reputation and celebrity is going to affect your interaction with the international community?

MR. RIPKEN: Hmm, that's a tough question. I don't know. I mean, I always enjoy here in the United States having a classroom to kind of speak to kids and you speak to kids through your actions the way you do on a baseball field. A sport is a sport, but it also teaches us many life lessons from within that. And by watching my actions a little bit, I developed a pretty good reputation and a brand, so to speak, that really resonated well with parents and kids. So you'd like to take that sort of platform internationally, reach out to kids all over the place.

I know we have our World Series going on right now in Aberdeen and we have six different international teams and it's hard to speak to the Japanese because I don't speak Japanese. It's hard to speak to the Koreans. It's a different language, but when you put them on the baseball field, it's very universal and we all talk, we all communicate, we all exchange, and I think that's a cool thing.

QUESTION: You were just inducted -- recently inducted into the Hall of Fame. You've reached the apex of your career. Why are you becoming a diplomat at this point?

MR. RIPKEN: Well, I mean --

QUESTION: Or an envoy, I should say.

MR. RIPKEN: It's a huge honor and -- bestowed upon me and it -- you know, at some points, you have to check yourself and see if it's actually real and it's happening. But I had a wonderful career in sport and my dad taught me about life through sports. He was in professional baseball as well. And many of the lessons that I learned through sport, I want to pass that along.

I really am a firm believer that sport, and in particular, baseball teaches us about -- you know, responsibility and teamwork, hard work, and those sorts of things that serve you well for the rest of your life. So I'd like to pass on that message and I'd like to serve as the ambassador of baseball, per se, and this gives me an opportunity to kind of spread that out a little bit further.

QUESTION: Didn't your father once say, "There's nothing worth doing unless doing it right?" And I'm wondering, how do you think -- how do you think --

UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: My dad said the same thing. I wonder where they heard that? (Laughter.) Anything that works --

SECRETARY RICE: I remember hearing the same thing. I guess that's also a universal message, right?

MR. RIPKEN: The old-school guidance.

SECRETARY RICE: The old-school -- oh, yes. That's right.

QUESTION: How do you think doing it right will translate into this new role?

MR. RIPKEN: Well, I mean, if it is worth doing, I mean -- if you're not going to do it right, you're going to do it halfway, you might as well not do it at all; it's really the other side of that message. And if you are committed and you are using your platform and your influence in positive ways, then you've got to be willing to walk the walk, or whatever that expression is. (Laughter.)

UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: Well, we're just grateful that someone of Cal Ripken's stature is willing to share with us, at the State Department and in the U.S. Government, and really to share the story of America, with the rest of the world. And we know young people around the world will look to Cal Ripken, Jr. and will say, "Well, if he represents America, you know, that's a very positive message."

SECRETARY RICE: And that's an important point because America is not its government. America is so much more than its government. And you hear people all the time say, "Well, I don't have a chance to meet Americans. I don't know that much about Americans." Well, it's fine if they meet Karen or they meet me, but it's even better, in many ways, if they meet Americans from all walks of life. And I've often said -- we talk about public diplomacy, we talk about the image of America abroad. I've often said that that isn't really the work of the government; it's the work of every American.

And we're just delighted that somebody of Cal Ripken's stature is going to be someone who will go out and represent America so well and represent what we consider to be American values, but also universal values; that hard work and stick-to-it-ness and the willingness to really put it all on the line every day is something that kids need to learn. And they need to know that there are great Americans who have done that, but that's something they can do wherever they are.

QUESTION: And where are you sending him first?

UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: He's going to China in October. He's hosted a number of Chinese coaches at his Ripken Academy here. And you had them for several weeks, I think, there.

MR. RIPKEN: Yeah.

UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: And you'll be visiting them in their hometown. Is that --

MR. RIPKEN: The first step was to teach them the basic fundamentals of the system, which we teach, very interactive with kids. And the second step is to go there. And I will be assisting them in the teaching of baseball over there. We'll go to schools. We'll go -- we'll have clinics and those sorts of things, but really to plant a seed for baseball and for sport with the kids, because, again, the kids are the same, you know, in all cultures. They're little sponges. They learn a lot of great values and principles that we can teach them and we're going to start planting little seeds.

SECRETARY RICE: Think you're going to find a few iron men out there?

MR. RIPKEN: Oh, I'm sure. You know, that's the funny part is that I'm referred to all the time as being invincible of sorts. But I'm anything but that. That's the message that you like to give to the kids, is that if you work hard and you stick to it, you know, great things can happen to you and whatever else, and you find out about your -- things about yourself that you didn't know; that you can do it.

QUESTION: Well, Mr. Ripken, we're looking forward to seeing your success in the baseball arena becoming your success in the world today. So thank you all so much.