Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. revealed Thursday that he beat prostate cancer this year — and he’s hoping his story will help save other lives.

Speaking to reporters on a Zoom call, the Baltimore Orioles legend said his cancer was diagnosed during a routine checkup in February. The cancer was contained to his prostate and completely removed during a March surgery. Ripken, who turns 60 later this month, said tests show that he’s now cancer-free. 

“The surgery couldn't have gone better,” he said, according to MLB.com. “The outcome couldn’t have gone better, and I have resumed everything I was doing before. It’s been a pretty miraculous few months.”

Ripken said he was given the diagnosis during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic and wanted to have the surgery before hospitals became overwhelmed.

He said he debated not going public with about his cancer but thought his experience might serve as a helpful reminder of why regular checkups are so important.

“If you are going to get the news, you want to get it when it’s contained and its early,” Ripken said. “Sometimes we as guys avoid that or think we’ll go to the doctor when we need to. I thought maybe my story, as lucky as it is, could encourage or bring the awareness. You should get checked. You should go to the doctors. You should do all the things necessary to catch this early.”

Ripken played for the Orioles from 1981-2001 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007. 

Ripken holds baseball’s record for the most consecutive games played — 2,632. He was speaking to reporters Thursday because the 25th anniversary of him breaking Lou Gehrig’s record is coming up on Sept. 6.