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As new condition white boards, blue spine with gold spine lettering, and gold front cover lettering contained in an as new condition non price-clipped color photographic dust jacket. Includes Author Dedication and Acknowledgments. Illustrated with two sections of both black-and-white and color photographic plates. Also includes "A special edition baseball card" in new condition contained in an opened blue envelope tipped into the second to last rear endpaper. "He says it's no big deal - he simply shows up for his job every day, just like millions of other working people. But when Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. reported to the baseball field on September 6, 1995, for a record-breaking 2,131 consecutive time, Americans felt otherwise. In an era of big-money sports, strikes, and grandstanding, the hardest-working ballplayer in the world had singlehandedly put the "great" back in America's greatest game. Now, with the candor and grace that have endeared him to fans, Ripken tells the story of his journey to that moment and beyond. It began in a childhood played out against ball fields (and laundromats) with Cal Ripken, Sr., managing all over the Oriole minor league system. All eyes were on young Cal as a hot high school prospect and into the minor leagues, and he recalls with genuine fondness how he worked his way up from the Rookie League team in Bluefield, West Virginia, to Triple-A in Rochester, New York. Then, in 1981, he got the permanent call from Baltimore. With his arrival in the major leagues, he began the drive to an All-Star career and, almost incidentally, the eventual assault on Lou Gehrig's record. He talks with warmth about his great mentor, Eddie Murray, and other teammates, and with candor about the years with the legendary Earl Weaver, the controversies over his position, and the roller-coaster ride of the eighties as the O's take the World Series and then enter what he calls "the dark years." And through it all, he reflects on the changes he's seen in the whole sport in the last fifteen years, including the way the game is played in Baltimore, the Oriole Way. Best of all, Cal takes us inside the brain of one of the game's smartest players. He dissects the dedication to craft it takes to be a shortstop - especially when you're six-foot-four. He takes us through his strategies at the plate and in the field, his attention to the tiniest detail of positioning, or glove selection, or batting stance. It's a private lesson with one of the true masters of the art of playing baseball. Cal Ripken knows what it means to make a commitment, like the one he's made to his hometown and its team for his whole career, and to his own family. In this rich and rewarding memoir, we find out why he gives back as much as he takes from the game and the fans - it's the only way he knows." - from the inner front and rear jacket flaps.
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