Blog for week 12/14/15

Book: The Only Way I Know by Cal Ripken Jr.

Pages read: 1-125

Genre: Memoir 

Prompts: List 3 problems the characters faced

Describe the Main Character

Do you like what you're reading?

            In my book the main character is Cal Ripken Jr. I think 1 problem that he faced was he had back problems. If he missed 1 game because of this the record would be broken, but despite his back problems, he still played. Another problem he had, was when he was about to beat Lou Gehrig's record, his right shoulder started to hurt. If he has a arm problem, he can't throw anymore, which means that it will probably snap his record of consecutive games. Another problem and probably the worst of his career, was the fear of getting old. As you get old, you start to get fragile. He was 38 when he broke the record, so he was old. He started to say that he would wake up with aches and pains, but he would never turn back.

            The main character in my book is Cal Ripken Jr. He is a very hard working man. He is very resilient, determined, and unbreakable, literally. Cal Ripken Jr. broke the unbreakable record set by Lou Gehrig which was 2,300 consecutive games played. Even though he had aches and pains everyday since he was getting old, he still got up and played. He was prone to injuries more than other players because he was 6'4'' and 200 pounds. He also won 2 gold gloves for diving plays at shortstop and amazing catches, this shows that he still cares about playing the game right.

            I really like what I am reading because I am very passionate about baseball and reading a book about one of the greatest really interests me more than other books would. This also gives me an insight of how he was as a person and gives me deeper insight of how good he was and how he beat this record. It is fun reading about something that I enjoy and not just something that is assigned to me. I also love reading about other peoples lives because it shows how they got where they are, and what to do, and what not to do to get where Cal Ripken Jr. is.

The Only Way I Know Nonfiction Blog 12/1/15

           Prompt: About my nonfiction book

Book: The Only Way I Know by Cal Ripken Jr.

Pages Read: 1-52

             The Only Way I Know By Cal Ripken Jr. is an autobiography. This book is about one of the most famous baseball players ever, Cal Ripken Jr. This book takes you through his life story and his baseball career. Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig's record of 2,310 games in a row. Cal Ripken beat that record by playing 2,632 consecutive games for the Baltimore Orioles. This was called the Iron man record.

            There were many good segments of this book to pick. The one that I found most interesting was, "Fielding errors and throwing errors will happen, but strategic and mental errors can be minimized." This means that even when he was bound to break an Iron man record, he still focused on playing the game right. Cal Ripken Jr. is a good example of someone with determination and someone that focuses on what is going now, then what he is thinking about the future. It also said in the book that sometimes he wouldn't care if he had gotten, he just focused on making the play at the right time. But what I thought was one of the most interesting part was that he didn't retire after he had beat the unbeatable record. He didn't just set a record, he set a record that is probably impossible to beat for athletes today. He said that when he was 100 games away people would talk about it saying he was going to beat it, he didn't know he was 100 games away until he was 75 games into the season.

            Somethings that I am not likely to forget is he beat the unbeatable. Lou Gehrig is probably one of the top 10 best baseball players of all time. When Cal Ripken Jr. was going into the league as a top draft pick, he was an average all-star player. He even said that he was some average player that nobody knew about. But what really got me, was how committed he was to baseball. He would never miss a baseball game for 2,632 times. This man is the reason why people still say today that ordinary people do extraordinary things everyday. I know he was a professional baseball player, but he was probably the least expected person to break a record this big that was set by a Hall of Famer. Cal Ripken Jr. is still probably one of the most famous but not one of the best players to ever play the game the baseball. He taught me that if you put your mind to doing something it will happen. Cal inspires us all to do something that we love with pride.

Cal Ripken Jr. at his record setting game

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