At Show Me Center appearance, Hall of Famer Ripken examines how he set baseball record

Baseball legend Cal Ripken Jr. has eight reasons why he was able to play a record 2,632 consecutive games in his career.

But he didn't always have the answers, baseball's "Iron Man" told a crowd of more than 1,200 Wednesday at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau. Ripken said he stumbled at first to answer how he broke Lou Gehrig's record 2,130 games.

"I'd say it was because I just liked to play; it just kind of happened. I got bewildered looks, and people seem disappointed by my answer," said Ripken, the seventh in Southeast Missouri State University's Speakers Series this academic year.

It was much later, when the question was asked differently, that Ripken discovered the answer to his perseverance.

What are the traits you have to have to break this record, he recalled a reporter asking him in one of his last All-Star games.

Having eight elements of perseverance seemed fitting, he said, as it was the number he wore throughout his Major League career. Ripken spent 21 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles and in 2007 was inducted in to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

"You have to love you what you do. Have passion. If anything allowed me to break that record its because I loved what I did," Ripken said.

As the 50-year-old Hall of Famer listed the seven other keys to perseverance, which included strength, conviction, taking the right approach and life management, he told stories about how the elements applied in his own life.

He encouraged the audience, filled with Southeast students and staff and youth baseball players, to have conviction and the courage to stand up for what's important to them.

"When you do that enough, sometimes you'll be called stubborn," he said. "When I was young, Mom explained the gray areas of stubborn ... with stories of my dad. At my house we had good and bad stubborn."

Know the difference between the two, he said.

Being consistent, competitive and finding your strength, mentally and physically, he added, are also keys to perseverance.

For Ripken, being consistent meant making daily, meaningful contributions to the team. A ballplayer can't always get the winning run or the winning hit, but daily contributions can really make a difference.

For part of his career, Ripken said, he was helping to call pitches during games. At shortstop, he'd give signals to the catcher, who'd pass them along to the pitcher. When pitchers began to value the calls he was making, they'd go straight to him, Ripken said.

"It's unusual, but I was calling every pitch for staff on the team for a while," Ripken said. Consistency "will make you irreplaceable."

Ripken wrote about his keys to success in the book "Get in the Game: 8 Elements of Perseverance That Make the Difference."

ehevern@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address:

1333 N. Sprigg St. Cape Girardeau MO