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Who
Mentored Cal Ripken, Jr.?
Cal
Ripken, Jr. is baseball's all-time Iron Man. He retired
from baseball in 2001 after 21 seasons with the Baltimore
Orioles. His name appears in the record books repeatedly,
most notably as one of only seven players in history
to amass 400 home runs and 3,000 hits. In 1995, Ripken
broke Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played
(2,130) and ended his streak in 1998 after playing 2,632
consecutive games.
Ripken
has always placed a strong focus on giving back to the
community. Most recently, he joined with his family
to honor his father by founding the Cal
Ripken, Sr. Foundation that will seek to bring the
joy and craft of baseball to young people who would
not otherwise be provided the opportunity.
Cal
Ripken, Jr. also serves on The
President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation.
***
The
biggest thing about Dad, and the biggest thing he taught
me, was by living his life a certain way, by example.
He tried to give us the value of being a good person.
When
I think about it, I had a slew of mentors. At a time
when I came to the big leagues, and there was a lot
going on, you thought you had a certain set of skills.
You had gone through the minor leagues and the great
anticipation of the moment you get into the big leagues,
and you thought everything would go smoothly.
The
first month of the season didn't go smoothly for me.
I had three hits opening day, which was great. We celebrated
that. But then I went into a miserable slump.
And
Eddie Murray just put his arm around me. And I guess
that could be the ultimate mentoring story. Here's this
guy who's five years older than me, and had gone through
something similar. All he did was put his arm around
me and said it was going to be okay.
The
value of a mentor...I don't know what value you can
place on it, but the right words spoken at the right
time from a person that's been through it before, can
make all the difference in your school year, can make
all the difference in that youth game.
And
it is a very personal feeling that when you help somebody,
there's a sense of satisfaction, gratification that
comes over you that can't be equaled, not even if you
hit a game-winning home run. So, that little feeling
inside--and it grows--it might happen the first time
and you'll say, "That's pretty cool." Then
you do it again and that feeling begins to feed off
itself.
If
you don't know what that feeling feels like, you should
try it.
***
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