While Cal Ripken, Jr. remains a study in longevity and survival, he begins what will be his 17th major-league season with the Baltimore Orioles, and he'll be playing for his fourth manager in five years.

I guess that makes him baseball's Irony Man.

Ripken,

Cal Ripken, Jr., who turns 38 in August, says he'll 'probably be the last one to know that I can't compete anymore.' (Allsport)

37, takes aim on extending his major-league record streak of 2,478 games with nary a sign of concern on his face or nary a word of ambivalence in his voice, even though he was particularly fond of Davey Johnson, last season's AL East-winning manager who was fired by owner Peter Angelos -- not for failing to win, but for failing to have the owner like him.

"As a player," Ripken said, "you try not to think about the business side."

Ripken will celebrate his 38th birthday in August, and by his own admission, it gets harder each year to get himself physically ready to play 162 games, plus the playoffs, which this year carries with it an added incentive of avenging last year's premature exit in the ALCS.

"I'm not saying that I'm going to walk off the field at the end of the year," said Ripken, who is guaranteed $15.1 million over the next two seasons. "I think they're pretty much going to have to throw me off the field."

Then, he admitted what most athletes rarely can bring themselves to admit: "I'll probably be the last one to know that I can't compete anymore."

AS FOR WHAT happened last season between Angelos and Johnson -- including the silliness that stemmed from Angelos' anger over Johnson's decision to designate Roberto Alomar's team fine to a charitable cause that Johnson's wife headed -- Ripken recognizes the difference between franchise player ... and franchise owner.

"The business side (only) matters at the time of your contract, because then you have to be educated to point that you understand it as it pertains to you," Ripken said. "But for the most part, your job is to come to the ballpark and play ... try to win a championship."

Ripken has a career in politics when his iron-man playing days are over, if he chooses. He simultaneously, in the same paragraph, is able to be a staunch supporter of Johnson and a loyal company man. He can both sorely miss the manager and still appreciate the man who signs his checks -- even if Johnson and Angelos hate each.

"The best thing that I can say about Mr. Angelos is that he's an owner who really wants to win," Ripken said. "That's important in the modern game of baseball because (Angelos) is going to go out and get the players we need to win. It's nice to have the financial backing and the backing of an owner who wants to win."

Ray Miller, Johnson's pitching coach last season, was Angelos' choice to move into the hot seat as manager over the winter. Ripken liked the move coming inside the organization.

"I was happy that the change was made within (the team), if one was going to be made," Ripken said. "Unlike when you go outside (the team), there's no learning curve here now. Ray already knows the team.

"But one thing I want to say about Davey is that I think he did a tremendous job last year. He guided this team. He was a solid rock from the first day of the season to the last day of the season. Through the high points and low points, he always seemed to see the big picture. He had an overall plan. With the luxury of winning (the AL East), he could rest his people and set up our pitching staff for the playoffs."

HOWEVER, THE O's lost in the NLCS to Cleveland -- not that Angelos needed another reason to fire Johnson.

"Looking back, Davey was my No. 1 supporter during my back injury last season," said an appreciative Ripken, whose iron-man streak was put into severe jeopardy by what was diagnosed as a herniated disk that limited the strength in his left leg. "(Johnson) asked me almost everyday if I was OK. He wanted me in the lineup, in whatever capacity that I could give him."

Ripken's back now?

"My back is fine now," he said. "The good news is that I don't get any medical treatments. The disk was sitting on a nerve, which was affecting my left leg. Finally, when the inflammation started to subside, and the irritation came off the nerve, the leg started to come back and function again.

"I ended up with a much weaker left leg, so I spent all off-season doing exercises to bring my left leg up to the same strength as my right leg. I'd do (nine-pound) medicine ball exercises for what they call 'trunk stabilization,' in order that I can strengthen all the muscles around the trunk and, hopefully, then support the back well enough to prevent injury in the future."

It's a tedious process for a herniated disk to completely heal.

"There's no sure-fired answer for it, but I'm giving myself the best chance of not getting injured again," Ripken said. "I get a small reminder every once in a while -- a dull ache -- that tell me that my back is not 100 percent. I'd say it's 99 percent, or 98 percent.

"It doesn't inhibit anything I can do. I can swing the bat as hard as I can. Defensively, I can dive to my right, get up and throw ... all the things that I'm asked to do. The longer I go and the less I think about it, the better it'll get. That dull ache occurs occasionally, but less and less as time goes on."

Ripken has adjusted to the move that he made from shortstop to third base under Johnson last season. He doesn't allow himself to mope, at least publicly, about not getting the chance to finish up at the position that he revolutionized.

NOW ALONG COMES the New York Yankees' Derek Jeter and Seattle's Alex Rodriguez to carry on as the new breed of bigger, stronger, heavier-hitting shortstops. Something Ripken started 17 years ago.

Said Ripken: "Players like Robin Yount also paved the way for someone like me, and Earl Weaver --the confident manager that he was -- felt that he could make something work. He gave me to the opportunity. When I first moved from third to shortstop, I thought it was a temporary move. Temporary turned out to be 15 years."

Rodriguez idolizes Ripken, and Ripken thinks Rodriquez can be a prototype in his own way.

"Wait'll (Rodriguez) fills out. He's already about 215 pounds. He's going to be a big man," Ripken said. "I feel good that I was able to maybe change the mindset and perception that people used to have of shortstops (being both light in stature and batting average) by the way I played the position."

At 37, Ripken's age doesn't stand out on the Orioles. DH candidates Harold Baines and Joe Carter are 39 and 38. Manager Miller has a lot of flexibility with this team, but perhaps the best everyday lineup includes only one position player as young as 30 -- second baseman Alomar.

"I don't get caught up in age," Ripken said. "I'm just thankful that we have a good club. I look at it as experience -- and that's a valuable intangible.

"People ask me if we feel a sense of urgency to win? My view is there's a sense of urgency to win every year."

Baring injury, make that every game of every season ... until they throw him off the field.

Ray Buck is CBS SportsLine's national columnist.