Cal Ripken, Jr. Quotes
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I never set out to do this; I never set out to say, 'Can I break this record?' Then all of a sudden, the preparations made for the celebration put pressure on me. I said, 'Okay, I have to get there.' After 2,130, there was sort of a realization it was a foregone conclusion you're going to play tomorrow.
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When you're in the day-to-day grind, it just seems like it's another step along the way. But I find joy in the actual process, the journey, the work. It's not the end. It's not the end event.
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One person's going to win, and everybody else is going to not win. So let's not feel like we're losers. Let's utilize the cultural opportunities, get to know the other players on the other team, look around you, enjoy your world series.
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When you're an athlete and you play every day and are conditioning yourself every year, the aging is gradual.
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I see myself as extremely lucky.
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Normally, some people think about 50 as a big moment in life. I kind of think 30 because in your baseball career, 30 was considered on top kind of looking at the end of your career. So I remember thinking about 30 in different ways, but 50 just seems like another step right now.
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You could be a kid for as long as you want when you play baseball.
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I did make a choice when I got away from baseball to be there to get my kids off to college.
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I had aches and pains when I played. No player is ever 100 percent, 80 percent, 85 percent. Guys that play 158 or 162 or 145, we are all in the same boat.
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Being elected to the Hall of Fame is about your career pretty much and your impact on the game.
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You don't project yourself in the Hall of Fame as a player. It's only during that five-year period where people start asking about it, and it doesn't seem real until it happens.
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All I really try and do is live up to my potential and do as well as I possibly could and to bring to the ballpark each and every day a good effort and do the best that I could each and every day.
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I had one of my best years in 1991; I was 31. I made a renewed effort to work harder. I got better at my diet. I paid attention to how much sleep I got. I was always someone of routine. I became more strict.
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Quite frankly, I don't miss standing in the box or standing on the field playing.
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I love baseball. The game allowed me the influence to impact kids in a positive way. This gives me a chance to talk to some social issues.
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Your job as a baseball player is to come to the park ready to play every day, and the manager, it's his job to make those decisions about who plays.
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I always thought being a gamer and someone who had a sense of responsibility to the game and to my teammates was the honorable thing.
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You learn as a player not to listen to the criticism. Many of the people who put out that criticism might not be as accomplished, might not understand the game as well from the inside-out.
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When things happen to you in the worst way, you live with it, you go over it, you think, 'What else could I have done?'