Cal Ripken Jr.'s theory on leadership is simple: "If you talk the talk, you have to walk the walk."

Leading by example, he said in an interview with IBD, "is the strongest form of leadership. Your words don't always get through clearly, but your actions always do. I think the greatest leader by example was (my teammate) Eddie Murray, who went out and played every day."

Ripken was no slouch in that department either. He holds the Major League Baseball record for most consecutive games played, 2,632, by far eclipsing the old mark of 2,130, held by Lou Gehrig.

After a 21-year career, entirely with the Baltimore Orioles, Ripken was voted into the Hall of Fame earlier this year. He will be inducted on July 29 in Cooperstown, N.Y.

As he writes in his new book, "Get in the Game: 8 Elements of Perseverance That Make the Difference," he owes his success to more than good genes. Credit also goes to what he calls an old-fashioned work ethic.

"You have to approach your job with a sense of responsibility," said Ripken, 46. "You have to come to the ballpark every day and be ready to play. That sounds oversimplified, but that's how I came to the park every day. I never set out to break a record. My managers did that because they knew I'd perform when asked."

It was more than just being prepared to play. Ripken played every game as though it was the most important of the season. It's a lesson he learned in 1982, his first full season in the big leagues.

From Miss To Champs

Baltimore was three games behind the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers — and the Orioles were scheduled to play them the last four games of the season. Baltimore won the first three and was tied for the top with one game to play.

The Orioles lost that finale — and had to sit out the playoffs. "That had a profound effect on me," Ripken said. "We all looked back. And if we'd just (won) one or two games along the way, it would have been the difference between us going to the playoffs and us going home."

Still, the Orioles turned that negative experience into a positive. They played all-out the following year and won the World Series.

Ripken wanted to play even when things were not going well in one area of his game. If he was in a batting slump, he felt he could contribute defensively. If he committed a few errors, he turned to his bat.

Ripken finished with 3,184 hits — 14th all time — including 431 home runs, and won two Glove Glove Awards as a shortstop. "The answer wasn't sitting on the sidelines hoping things get better," he said. "The idea is to go out and make adjustments while you're in a slump and focus on other areas to make contributions — little things like making right decisions on hit-and-run plays or on a cutoff play. The answer to the problem lies within me, not sitting on the bench watching.

"Lots of times people, when the going gets tough, want to take a little break and regroup. I felt in some way that was running away from the issue instead of meeting it head-on. I do understand that in some circumstances you may need to step back. But for me, only hard work can make it right."

The hard work begins in practice. "My dad (Cal Ripken Sr., the former Baltimore manager who died in 1999) always told me that it wasn't practice that makes perfect, but perfect practice that makes perfect," Ripken said. "I used to think that was ridiculous. How are you going to have fun if you're not going to fool around a little bit? But he felt if you want to build good habits it's a lot better to take 35 to 50 ground balls the right way than take 500 ground balls and screw around. My dad's message was all about building good habits, so when the game starts you can fall back on those habits and they'll seem natural."

Success requires more than just perfect practices. "There's a lot that goes into a game, and it doesn't just happen by accident or even all the thousands of practice swings," Ripken said. "You have to understand all the facts that go into it.

"For me as a defensive player, for example, to position myself I had to see all the clues. I needed to know what the pitch was going to be. I needed to know the count. I needed to know the batter's tendencies. I needed to know the manager's tendencies. If I could decode all those details, I could position myself better. Some players play the game on just physical talent. I needed to know why and how."

Ripken believes that to succeed you must be willing to take a chance. He found this out in his early years with the American League All-Star team. He made the team 19 straight years, but played tentatively the first few times out.

"When I first went, the All-Star game experience was overwhelming." he said. "All of a sudden, it seemed as if everyone was watching you. So my first inclination was to play ultraconservatively — wait longer, don't swing at a bad pitch. But by not taking chances, you limit your ability to achieve success.

"You have to let it fly, be willing to swing at a bad pitch. And you can't be too discouraged if you're fooled. It's just another strike."

After realizing that playing scared was not the way to go, Ripken went on to win two All-Star Most Valuable Player votes.

By the time he was an elder statesman on the Orioles, teammates regularly came to him for help. His advice: discuss your problem with the man in charge. "He's the only one who has the answers," Ripken said. "Pitchers would come to me and ask, 'Why is he (the manager) not using me?' And I would encourage them to go talk to the manager directly. If you go around talking to anyone else, it may make you feel better but it's not going to get you to the crux of the problem. I always believed in being direct.

"If something affected me I didn't want to sit back and wait. A lot of people think that's being combative, and certainly it could be confrontational if handled the wrong way. I always tried to pick a time when everyone was happy and talk to the manager about it in a nonconfrontational way."

In The Field

After retiring from the sport in 2001, he founded a company called Ripken Baseball Inc. It constructs professional and amateur baseball fields around the country and owns minor-league teams. Though he is no longer involved as an athlete, Ripken still takes his figurative swings.

"One of my greatest strengths has always been my ability to analyze things," he said. "One of my greatest weaknesses is my ability to analyze things. At some point, you've analyzed enough and you have to go out and try it. There's great value in strategic sessions, but at some point you have to say this is the plan and put things into action.

"That's easy in baseball. You're tested in the game. But business has no rules about when the game starts. You have to make the game start, and you can't paralyze yourself by overanalyzing."

BY CURT SCHLEIER