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“<br />
Everybody would tell<br />
me their streaks, and<br />
so many times there<br />
were truckers that said,<br />
‘I’m on the road, like<br />
you are as a baseball<br />
player. We have<br />
challenges, like you do<br />
as a baseball player.’”<br />
— Cal Ripken Jr., Baseball’s “Iron Man”<br />
and legendary shortstop<br />
handle whether playing baseball, driving a truck, or<br />
running a business.<br />
“The principle of showing up and [having a good]<br />
work ethic is right there with all the truckers, and<br />
with America in many ways,” added Ripken. “I<br />
enjoy hearing those stories.”<br />
Ripken said he has a few friends who went into the<br />
trucking industry after baseball, which reiterates his<br />
belief that dedication, perseverance, and showing up<br />
continue to translate from baseball to our industry.<br />
In any career, Ripken said, it boils down to having<br />
the right mentality to get the job done — no matter<br />
what the job is.<br />
“It’s the grinding-out mentality. It’s the stubbornness,<br />
sometimes,” shared Ripken. “It’s the standing<br />
up for what you believe in, and sometimes doing<br />
things that aren’t expected of you.”<br />
Ripken said his mentality hasn’t necessarily<br />
changed as he looks forward to celebrating the 25th<br />
anniversary of the night he broke Lou Gehrig’s<br />
consecutive-games record, noting that any time one<br />
has the opportunity to celebrate 25 years after any<br />
event, it’s a special feeling.<br />
At the end of the day, though, what matters most<br />
to Ripken is that those around him could always<br />
count on him to be there and to have a winning<br />
attitude.<br />
“It made me feel really good that you could be<br />
counted on each and every day by your teammates,”<br />
Ripken shared with Truckload 2020: Orlando<br />
attendees. “I think that’s a principle and value that<br />
all of us should hold on to. And I know that we count<br />
on the trucking industry; many people count on<br />
the trucking industry. And … you don’t want to let<br />
anyone down. It’s the ‘You can rely on me; you can<br />
count on me’ mentality.”<br />
Opposite page: Cal Ripken Jr. took the stage during Monday morning’s general session at Truckload 2020: Orlando Above: Ripken shared<br />
stories of the baseball field, discussing everything from the Baltimore Orioles’ losing season in 1988 to personal perseverance to break the mostconsecutive-games<br />
record.<br />
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 33