Customer Reviews

The Only Way I Know

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book shows the ordinary life of this talented and driven athlete. Should inspire and confirm that everyday effort and hard work makes for success. You will find Cal's boyhood stories and read about his entire family's passion for the game. The role model his father afforded him. There are stories about his wife and children and his genuine competitive spirit. I was struck by the ordinary upbringing and the seemingly level headedness that he has maintained throughout his success. I am a fortunate season ticket holder who attends many games. And I am always amazed at the class and level of integrity that Cal seems to possess. Even as a local and available to many reports on Cal at play and with charitable events, this book still offered an interesting read. You will also find a section of color personal photographs.

Anyone who has read George F. Will's extremely comprehensive analysis of the game, 'Men At Work,' will be somewhat disappointed by this book. Having read 'Men At Work' many years ago, I may have been jaded thinking Cal would present the same observations at the same level GFW did. Sure, Cal shares his private feelings (family, charity work, etc) with us and an all-to-short analysis of the Birds tumble to mediocrity over the years, however there's far too much time spent on 'boys' stuff (wrestling, practical jokes) and not enough on the beauty and technical-side of the game which Mr. Will brought out of Cal in his book. That said, it is a ghosted autobiograpy (and not altogether too well-edited) and Cal's story, which Cal presented, 'the only way he knows' I suppose. He is, nonetheless, a joy to watch in play.

Growing up in Baltimore, I can't recall watching an O's game without Ripken in the lineup. If you've ever wondered how Cal thinks and treats the game of baseball, you'll enjoy this book. Ripken reveals how he analyzes players and systems, how he treats "the streak", how he deals with a slump, and how he views life in general. The book won't change your life, but if you're a Ripken fan, an Orioles fan, or just a baseball fan, you'll enjoy it

Born, raised, and fifth-generation Baltimore, second-generation Oriole fan, I really enjoyed reading this book. I have seen many Oriole games, seen two at Memorial (Camden Yards was built when I was less than twenty years old), and many at Camden Yards. Cal Ripken, who is my favorite player, is a good writer - and buy this book!

To address the previous review, the authors do mention in a later chapter that Ted Williams indeed won the Triple Crown. This is an example of bad editing. The book feels conversational. While that is a good approach, the editors left in too many badly structured sentences that made for difficult reading at times. If you can wade through, it is a great biography of Cal in his (supposedly) own words.

In this book the author states that Frank Robinson and Carl Yastremski were the only players to win the Triple crown. If I'm not wrong, I believe that Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams also were triple crown winners. He also says that Davey Johnson won the World Series as manager of the Cincinnati Reds. This is also wrong. Can someone explain this to me.

In this book Cal Ripken talks about his career. How he accomplished his consecutive streak of Games played. He talks about being ordinary like every body else. He puts his heart into the game he loves. This is an excellent book, Vibrating that touches the heart. It changed the way I feel about the game of baseball. Now I try my hardest when I step on the diamond. And appreciate being able to be apart of the game.

If you love Cal, you'll love this book. Plain and simple. It's not a great read, but a very good one.

Thought this would be interesting as a peek into the life of someone in "the show". Fairly so, though the level of detail (which could just as easily been a positive) was a bit much at times. Or perhaps the details that were revealed weren't that interesting.

Ripken definitely isn't a deep person, or if he is he works to hide it in this book; though I'm not sure why anyone would look to a pro athlete for anything deep.

The life he presented basically boils down to - "I played every day because I could, not as an attempt to break a record. I played hard because that is how I was raised."

Nothing wrong with any of that, just a bit pedestrian. Again, why would you expect more out of a book about a baseball player though?

Good insight into someone doing their best on a consistent basis. Don't expect anything magical though. It's along the lines of the saying "90% of success is showing up".

I love Cal Ripken Jr. He's been one of my favorite players since I was 9 years old. I was really looking forward to this book. I wanted to be able to rate it higher. I really did. However, the books is very dry and doesn't have a lot of really good stories in it. It's mostly about stats for different years and how he broke out of his slumps. There's not a lot about his childhood growing up in the shadow of the big leagues with his dad being in the Baltimore organization. There were very flat stories of how they drove to spring training as kids with their mother organizing. I just thought Cal would have so many good stories about his life and the different people he met along the way. I know he is a very private person but he didn't really open up and let you get to know the real him. This book also stops after the record is broken and doesn't go any further in his career or his after baseball life. I was a little disappointed, but would recommend it to the true Cal fans.