Cal Ripken Jr. shows an All-Star Game baseball he was given to sign by Kim Tucker, left, of Maine, after he spoke at a meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General.

The Providence Journal / Mary Murphy

PROVIDENCE — Cal Ripken Jr., the Hall of Fame shortstop who played a record 2,632 straight games, yesterday pitched a crime-prevention program, called Badges for Baseball, to the National Association of Attorneys General, which is holding its annual summer meeting in Providence this week.

The Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation created the program along with the U.S. Department of Justice, aiming to prevent juvenile crime by having law-enforcement volunteers serve as mentors to youths. Statewide programs are under way in Massachusetts, Virginia and Mississippi, and the foundation is working to begin Badges for Baseball in six more states, including Rhode Island.

“Most people mistakenly think it’s about the baseball, but baseball is just the tool to grab them,” Ripken said during a speech at The Westin Providence hotel. “It’s making those trusting relationships, those mentoring opportunities, that has the magic associated with it. And there are many character lessons, teamwork lessons, responsibility lessons that go along with that.”

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said Badges for Baseball will begin in Rhode Island this year, at no cost to taxpayers.

Today, Lynch begins a one-year term as president of the National Association of Attorneys General, marking the first time a Rhode Island attorney general has been elected to that position. Lynch said that as president he’s making this “the year of the child,” focusing on issues related to youth such as “cyber-bullying.” Badges for Baseball is one example of the emphasis on youth, he said.

Ripken, who played for the Baltimore Orioles from 1981 to 2001, told prosecutors that there is debate these days about whether baseball players and other athletes should be role models. But to him, the answer is clear: “Whether you want to or not, you are. So you should sort of accept that responsibility of influence.”

Ripken said he looked for ways to continue having an influence on children after he retired, and the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation was formed in 2001 in honor of his later father, who was an Orioles manager. “Dad’s magic in his life was turning a light bulb on in a kid,” he said.

Ripken said his paternal grandfather died when his father was 10 years old. “So he probably longed for male influence in his life,” he said. “When he became an adult, he turned his influence to as many kids as he could.”

Now, the foundation is growing rapidly, Ripken said. “And it is using baseball to get to those tough kids who might not have the same sort of advantages that we had, that might not have that father influence that can step in and kind of guide them,” he said.

Badges for Baseball also aims to improve relationships between young people and the police.

Ripken acknowledged, “There are a billion programs out there that try to deal with those sorts of issues.” But, he said, “I have a sort of reach and I have a certain credibility, and starting with that is a really, really good starting point.”

At one point, Ripken noted his nickname is “Iron Man.” But, he said, “I played a game for a living. It was really fun. It was easy to go out there and play.”

What was difficult, Ripken told the prosecutors, was taking part in the longest game in professional baseball history — the 33-inning marathon that pitted the Pawtucket Red Sox against Ripken’s Rochester Red Wings at McCoy Stadium in 1981.

“That probably was a true test of the Iron Man inside of me because we played 33 innings, 32 of which we played that night,” Ripken recalled. “It was really cold. We played until 4:07 in the morning. And it was suspended tied 2 to 2. We resumed the game a couple months later and ended up losing the very next inning.”

Ripken said he went 2 for 13 in the game, and his batting average plunged from .300 to .279. “So I don’t like thinking about that game a whole lot,” he said.

Ripken went to McCoy Stadium later in the day to talk about the longest game and the Badges for Baseball program.

During a question-and-answer session with prosecutors, Lynch asked Ripken if there was an injury that almost stopped his consecutive-games streak at an earlier point.

“The myth is that I played injury free,” Ripken said. But when the streak stood at about 1,500 or 1,600 games, he “blew out” his knee during a brawl with the Seattle Mariners, he said. The next morning, he couldn’t put any weight on that leg, so he called his mother so she’d be the first to know the streak was over. He said his parents lived exactly 45 minutes away and they arrived at his house exactly 45 minutes after he hung up. He said he talked to his parents, iced the knee, and ended up playing after all.

“The cool part about that,” Ripken said, “was the support we talk about that a lot of kids don’t have.”

efitzpat@projo.com