Be Your Best

I had to opportunity recently to meet Cal Ripken Jr., aka the ‘Iron Man’ of professional Major League Baseball.  Cal was dubbed the Iron Man because he played in a record 2,632 consecutive Major League Baseball games, and broke Lou Gehrig’s streak of 2,130 games.  I have never been a big Baltimore Orioles fan, or even a die hard baseball fan, but I did pay attention to Cal Ripken Jr. because of ‘the streak’.  When he broke Lou Gehrig’s unsurpassable record of 2,130 games played without ever missing one, I thought that was an amazing accomplishment.  Especially when you consider he is playing at the highest level of professional sport.  I listened to Cal do a presentation where he spoke about his childhood, his family, baseball, the ‘streak’, and life in general.  I was fortunate to meet him after the talk.

Cal said that breaking the Lou Gehrig consecutive games streak was never one of his goals, not even as he got close to it.  His primary goal always was to ‘be the best baseball player there ever was’.  Ironically, that may be why he did end up breaking the record.  He took a lot of risks primarily to be the best player he could be.  He trained and played in ways that put his health at risk where he could have been more defensive or protecting.  He also told a story about breaking one of his ribs playing basketball before the last season.

8 Key Traits to Persevere and Exceed Your Goals— from Cal Ripken

Cal said that Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees once asked him “how did you do it?” at an All Star Game in Colorado, and Cal did not have a good answer for Derek.  It disappointed Derek when Cal said “it just happened”.  This got Cal thinking more about it. 

“What traits would someone have to have to break that record?”  Cal developed his original ‘list’ of 8 traits that made it happen, and this eventually led to writing the book “Get in The Game”.  The list was modified slightly for the book, but here is his ‘original’ list of 8 traits he gave in his talk.

1. The Right Approach—Personal Mission Statement

Cal talks about having a personal mission and sticking to it, even when other people or you question it.  Never doubt it.  Cal said he only doubted himself one time, when he was in a batting slump.  He asked Rick Sutcliffe, Pitcher and teammate if he should just put the streak to rest.  Rick said “You will end up in the obituaries if you don’t show up.  Your fielding is phenomenal and I need you on the field regardless of your batting.”

2. A Strong Will to Succeed—Internal Drive

Cal talks about having the ‘fire within’.  Cal had the fire early on (a bad temper), but indicated that his mother was the one who helped him channel that temper into positive action.

3. Passion—Love What You Do

Cal indicates that passion is what carries him through the ‘bad times’ and tough circumstances.  Loving what you do makes it all worthwhile.  Cal, like all of us, had plenty of bad times.

4. A Love to Compete

Cal sees loving to compete on 2 levels: competing with yourself and competing with your teammates.  Most people do not know that Cal Ripken Jr. was developed as a 3rd Baseman, and playing shortstop was a temporary move by coach Al Weaver.  There was always a young buck shooting for his SS position.  Cal would always share all the tips and information he had when training, but once they started executing, Cal was competing with them like the enemy.

5. Consistency—Ability to Perform Every Day

One thing that is lacking from a lot of people is the ability to perform consistently, every day.  Because Cal Ripken Jr. was on the field every day, he actually began calling the pitches for his pitchers vs. the catcher.  This was an indispensable contribution to the team.  Frank Robinson, coach at the time, was going to write Cal out of the line up before he broke Lou Gehrig’s record due to a hitting slump, but he simply could not that because Cal did so many great things.

6. Sense of Conviction—Thick Skin

Cal did not hit his goals because everything was handed to him on a silver platter. Whether it was  the press giving him a hard time about the ‘streak’ or his father getting fired as Manager of the Baltimore Orioles after just 8 games, Cal shook it off and saw things through to the end.

7. Strength—Physical and Mental

Cal feels you must have strength, both physical and mental, to exceed your goals, but the ‘connection between the two’ should be the primary focus. Cal used mental strength to his advantage.  He actually would share private/secret information with certain opposition team players that would cause his team to get ‘out’, in order to gain their trust, and get important information back that would help win the game.  He was big on ‘picking battles wisely’ to preserve his strength.

8. Life Management– Achieving Balance

Cal talks about trying to “bring control over things you cannot control”.  Don’t just let things happen, be proactive.  He became well known as someone who could ‘manage his managers’ and was able to manage the media.  He did this by establishing trust first, providing them value without expectations in return.  When faced with the impossible situation of either missing the birth of his first child or ending the consecutive game record streak early, Cal said to his wife: “Honey, you can count on me, I will be there and not have any regrets.  But, is it fair to our son that his birthday will be stamped as that day the streak ended?”

We can all learn a lot from Cal Ripken Jr., the ‘Iron Man’.

Be Your Best,
Todd D. Gifford