Just Show Up
Hardcover | Paperback | eBook | Audiobook
Book Reviews aim to provide succinct, thoughtful summaries of books I have read. They contain quotes from the book, thoughts from others, and also some thoughts of my own. Typically they will be structured in the following order: author, introduction, message and purpose, remarkable chapter, and conclusion. This review will cover Just Show Up, a book about the many benefits earned when you can just show up consistently.
Author
Cal Ripken Jr.
Introduction
Cal Ripken Jr. is called "Baseball's Iron Man" for a reason. Ripken holds the record for consecutive games played, 2,632, surpassing Lou Gehrig's streak of 2,130 that had stood for 56 years and that many deemed unbreakable. Just Show Up is an insider account of a baseball legend, filled on every page with the grounding, invaluable wisdom our time needs.
Message and Purpose
Just Show Up is comprised of eight chapters:
Chapter 1: Just Show Up
Chapter 2: Success and Money Are Not the Same
Chapter 3: Play Fair—Win Fair
Chapter 4: It's OK to Be Stubborn
Chapter 5: Baseball Is a Game of Averages . . . like Life
Chapter 6: Practice Doesn't Make Perfect—Adjustment Does
Chapter 7: Have a Mentor, and Be One, Too
Chapter 8: How to Be the Quietest Person in the Room
In each chapter, Ripken reflects on his Hall of Fame career with anecdotes and stories on the enduring values he learned in his journey to the peak of his sport. Citing his father (former Baltimore Orioles manager Cal Ripken Sr.) and other professional teammates, Ripken has a world of knowledge that he shares in a simple, easily understood way.
Remarkable Chapter
The opening chapter (also entitled Just Show Up) has some of my favorite stories and key points in the entire book. Ripken explains the story of Wally Pipp, a great baseball player about a hundred years ago. One day before a game in 1925, Pipp got a headache and decided to take a game off. He was replaced that day by Lou Gehrig, who would go on to have a Hall of Fame career. Ripken talked about how his father often invoked the sad story of Wally Pipp:
"Sometimes I'd tell my dad that I was planning on skipping a game, but whenever I did so, my dad would simply tell me that if I gave someone else a chance to play in my position, he might get three hits, and I could be the Wally Pipp of my generation. It's fine to take a day off if you're ready to take a second day off and a third, or many, as Wally Pipp had to. Or you can just be ready to play every day and not risk it."
Later in the chapter, Ripken talks about how streaks are for the long haul:
"Everything you do is a test of how well you do it, not just once or twice, but again and again, after your task has lost its newness or novelty, when it's just the daily repetition of what needs to be done. Above all, it's not what you mean to do, it's what you actually do—actions, not intentions."
Conclusion
Ripken's keynotes were his consistency, hard work, and loyalty—in more than twenty years as a major leaguer, he only ever played for the Baltimore Orioles. He truly embodied the old-fashioned sense of doing what was right, every single day. In Just Show Up, Ripken outlines the success and failures of his career and what he learned along the way, which makes for a truly pleasant experience for the reader.