Cal Ripken Jr. has once again acknowledged having an "itch to come back to the big league scene" now that his son is closer to heading off to college. "Since my youngest child, Ryan, is preparing for college, it does certainly open up some different possibilities in the next phase of my life," Ripken said. "I don't know what that means, yet, but certainly, I get a little itch to come back to the big league scene," he added. Since retiring after the 2001 season, Ripken has consistently said he wanted to see his two children go off to college before getting more involved in the day-to-day operations of a baseball team. "It certainly is a different phase in your life once you get your kids off to college," Ripken said. "In my own thinking, personally, when I retired from baseball, it was important for me to be there and to be flexible in my schedule where I could get him off to ... college. I didn't have that. My dad wasn't afforded the luxury of doing that. "When you're [adhering] to a baseball schedule, it's a very difficult one to to have the flexibility to watch games and watch your kids grow up. To myself, to my family, I made a commitment that I was going to be there."