ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Cal Ripken, Jr., one of baseball's legendary players, was the keynote speaker at a recent luncheon sponsored by MidWest Financial Credit Union to kick off its business services program.

As part of the presentation, Ripken tossed five baseball-shaped stress balls into an audience of more than 520, redeemable for Detroit Tigers tickets, which were provided by the $200 million credit union. Attendees were also treated to ballpark favorite Cracker Jacks and real baseballs. "We worked hard to create an experience for the attendees using the baseball theme," said Tom Gisewhite, MidWest Financial vice president of marketing. The credit union used the luncheon, which was held at the Washtenaw Economic Club in April, to launch its new business services program. Members have access to a number of services including checking accounts and commercial lending through the Michigan Business Connection, a business lending CUSO. "This was a great opportunity for us," said Eric Pless, MidWest Financial senior vice president of business development. "What a great platform to launch our new business services." Ripken, who retired in October 2001, after 21 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, recently completed a multi-city book tour to promote his new book Parenting Young Athletes the Ripken Way. His name appears in the record books repeatedly, most notably as one of only eight players in history to achieve 400 home runs and 3,000 hits. In 1995, Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played, 2,130, and voluntarily ended his streak in 1998 after playing 2,632 consecutive games.