Member-only story
Why Games Played is the Most Important Statistic
Nicknamed “The Iron Man”, Cal Ripken Jr. played in 2,632 games in a row, a Major League Baseball record that will likely never be broken.
He played in every single one of his team’s games over more than 16 years.
Of course you have to be a pretty good player to stay in the lineup that many consecutive times, and you need to stay relatively injury-free, but it’s not Ripken’s offensive prowess or physical durability that impresses me most.
It is his willingness — mentally —to put himself out there, day after day, regardless of the circumstance.
It didn’t matter if he was struggling at the plate or worried about facing a tough opposing pitcher. He never played it safe or shied away from a challenge.
You see, there is no way to control how many home runs you hit or Championships you win, but games played is within your control. And the more games you play, the more good things can happen.
This is a lesson that is true in sports and it’s true in life.
Theodore Roosevelt famously said:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know…
