Ripken to UMD Grads: Keep a Positive Attitude and 'Make Your Mark'

Drawing on his experience with talent, attitude, and success in professional baseball, hall of famer Cal Ripken, Jr. delivered the University of Maryland commencement address Sunday at the Comcast Center in College Park.

The "Iron Man"—best known for playing a record 2,632 consecutive games with the Baltimore Orioles—spoke to some 7,000 members of the class of 2013 along with their family, friends, and professors.

Recalling his transformation from a headstrong rookie to American League MVP, Ripken urged each student to "thoroughly examine your attitude, to make it positive, and to go forth and make your mark on this world."

Ripken, who was raised in Aberdeen, played shortstop and third base for Orioles from 1981 to 2001. He is one of just eight MLB players to record at least 3,000 hits and 400 home runs in his career.

Ripken was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007 in his first year of eligibility. Since leaving baseball, he has focused his efforts on Ripken Baseball, Inc. and the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation.

Below, find a full transcript of Ripken's speech.

Cal Ripken, Jr.'s 2013 University of Maryland Commencement Speech

Thank you so much for that warm applause. It does take me back to some wonderful moments as a baseball player, and I couldn't be more thankful that I was able to represent Baltimore and the State of Maryland everywhere in this country and also around the world. So thank you very much.

My wife graduated from this fine university, although she will not allow me to reveal the year. (Whispered) 1981. I didn't get a college degree, but instead attended another kind of institution. We could call it "the baseball university." Learning takes place every day and is occasionally offered by some of us who didn't get degrees. In the end, it's what we share from our experience that might make a difference in the lives of others. And I hope that some lessons from my long career in baseball might give you a lesson or two to supplement what you have learned as a Terp.

Today, I would like to share for ten minutes with you my views on talent, skill, and attitude. Let me start by saying that talent is something you are born with. I was lucky to have the talent to pursue a career in professional baseball. We are all born, I believe, with some talent, and sometimes the hard part is discovering what that talent is. Life is a series of experiences, and you should pay close attention to how you react to them. Leave yourself open to discover where your talent lives and how to deal with it. And remember that you may not always have the talent to do the first thing you would like to do. 

Dad would say that in baseball, nothing can replace talent. I can't teach someone to throw 95 miles per hour. The harsh reality—as you contemplate where you fit in—is that talent and aptitude is a requirement in some jobs. You can aspire to be a professional baseball player, but no matter how hard you want it or how hard you work at it, if you don't have the talent, you won't succeed.

But let me also say that because levels of talent frequently vary, skill development also plays an important role in meeting many challenges. Skills: these are the things you learn and develop through training or practice. You've been developing your skills your whole life, especially in all the years you've invested in school. So yes, in case you were wondering, making your way to this ceremony is worth it. 

You now have a set of skills which will help make you marketable. Skill development is where you apply your discipline and your work ethic to get the most out of your training. This is where you can gain a tremendous advantage. You can work your way to the top. The more you know, and the better your skill, the more value you will have. You have to become a doer. Don't talk about all the things you could do—start doing them. This is called actual experience, and no one can give that to you. You should learn from all your experiences, no matter how trivial you might think they are.  

When my dad was in his development role in the minor leagues with the Orioles, he coined a phrase that said, "We try to put 40-year-old heads on 20-year-old bodies. It just doesn't work." What that meant was that dad and the other coaches tried to implant all the years of their own playing experiences into the young players' heads. But that wisdom can't be simply transferred; it also has to be experienced and earned by each individual. Coaches and teachers like dad might be able to guide their students to sidestep a few sand traps along the way, but learning also requires you to experience it yourself. Sorry, folks: there are no shortcuts on this one.

Now let me turn to what I consider the key to taking talent and skill to the highest level. Simply: it's attitude. Attitude is all about your outlook, your view of yourself and the world around you. Ask yourself: do you have a good or a bad attitude? Are you positive or negative as you approach life's challenges? 

When I first started playing professional baseball, I quickly dismissed all this attitude talk. I thought it was a waste of time. Frankly, I just didn't get it. I was literally focused on the task of getting better and making it. All that mattered to me was getting my reps in practice and how I did in the games. The games were not contests between two teams—they were my individual exams. If I got three hits and we lost, I was happy. If we won and I went oh-for, I was mad. I was obsessed with my stats. They were my ticket to the show. I couldn't stand the umpires, because from my view, every mistake they made would cost me. I had problems with the official scorekeepers because their decisions cost me hits and added errors to my record. I despised the groundskeepers because the conditions of the field affected my performance. It was my helmet's fault if I didn't get a hit, or my bat, or even the pine tar. My glove failed me if I made an error. Okay, you get the idea.

But even with this attitude, I was moving up in the organization. I was improving. I and others rationalized my attitude problems as immaturity, and I kept on going all the way to the big leagues. Then it hit me—in fact, quite literally. I got hit with a 94 mile per hour pitch in the side of my helmet in Baltimore. I was struggling mightily in the early part of my rookie season, and I was miserable. I was blaming others and stalled by my attitude. That shot to the head knocked some sense into me. Earlier in the week, my veteran teammate and all-star Ken Singleton had pulled me aside and showed me a tape of me throwing a helmet and just said, "We don't do that here. That's not what it's all about. That's the wrong attitude." 

So after getting beaned and while laying on the X-ray table, I started to think more about what Ken said. What's this secret that everyone seems to know but me? Well, the conclusion I came to was that it wasn't all about me, and the world certainly was not my enemy. I realized that I was affected with a negative attitude. That ball striking me helped flip the switch, and I made a choice to have a positive attitude. My talent and skill had supported me to that point. My change in attitude helped me achieve being named Rookie of the Year that year and MVP the next. And what a difference it made in my career. I was propelled forward by my positive attitude. As I continued playing the game I loved, I stopped blaming. I was accountable. I became aware. I felt more accomplished. I was more in control. My rational mind started working instead of my reactive mind. Little things didn't affect me as much. I started finding solutions before they became issues. Positive attitude was now a part of my approach to life.

Now, what can you take from my experience with a change in attitude? Well, when you truly have a positive attitude, you capture that energy of what can be accomplished as opposed to why it can't be done. You become a willing participant. You try things. You do things. You learn every step of the way. You become action-oriented. Your failures even become valuable experiences. Where would the world be without Thomas Edison's failures and his positive attitude in dealing with them? He himself said, "I failed my way to success." 

Now you don't fail unless you're willing to try. And it's your positive attitude that allows you to do so, and even allows you take the lessons you learned from failures and turn them into positive accomplishments. Attitude is not like talent: you are not born with a set attitude. It's a choice, and it can be changed, and it can be developed. 

So in conclusion: I'm confident you have found or will find your special talent, and you'll continue to develop you skills with the disciplines that have been instilled in you by this great university. And now, I ask you to thoroughly examine your attitude, to make it positive, and to go forth and make your mark on this world. Thank you very much.