Dr. Peter J. Weiss

It’s base­ball time again; at least it is down here in east-central Florida where the Wash­ing­ton Nation­als pitch­ers and catch­ers reported to spring train­ing this week and the rest of the play­ers will be in camp by next week.

Lou Gehrig

The weather is beau­ti­ful and I’m look­ing for­ward to tak­ing in a spring train­ing game or two.

While we’re talk­ing base­ball, I recently had occa­sion to reflect on the great Cal Rip­ken.  Cal played short­stop and third base for over 20 years with the Bal­ti­more Ori­oles.

He’s known as the “Iron Man” for his depend­able day in, day out per­for­mance.  Show­ing up every day ready to play, Cal estab­lished the major league record for reli­a­bil­ity play­ing in 2,632 con­sec­u­tive games — break­ing Lou Gehrig’s record of 2,130 games in a row that stood for over 50 years.

Nat­u­rally, Cal was and is beloved by Ori­oles fans.

By now you’re prob­a­bly won­der­ing if this is a health blog or a base­ball blog.  So let me tell you how I came to be think­ing about Cal.  I was tucked in bed, and just before drift­ing off to sleep, the way I was posi­tioned allowed me to feel my heart beat­ing very strongly in my chest.  (I’m sure you’ve prob­a­bly expe­ri­enced this your­self.)

As I began to think about my heart beat­ing — day in, day out for over 51 years — it occurred to me — my heart is the Cal Rip­ken of my body!

Cal Rip­ken

I imme­di­ately felt grate­ful for my heart and its reli­able per­for­mance.  As much as the Bal­ti­more fans love Cal, I love my heart.  Of course I don’t want to slight my other inter­nal organs — liver, kid­neys, lungs, etc. — which are also show­ing up “ready to play” every day too; they’re just qui­eter about it than my heart.

Really it’s not about any one organ by itself.  They all work together in my body, and I’m grate­ful for the total pack­age.  I’ve been here 51 years now and my body has been there for me through thick and thin.

But, do I treat my body as well has Bal­ti­more fans treat Cal?  Do I honor my body for being an “iron man” to me?

To be hon­est, no.  Frankly, I haven’t always treated my body with the respect it deserves for its amaz­ing record of over 18,000 con­sec­u­tive days of play.

This sea­son, I’m going to start treat­ing my body with the respect due a “Hall of Famer.”  How about you?