Baseball is a sport with a long history of superstition….from the Curse of the Bambino to some players’ refusal to wash their clothes or bodies after a win….for superstition is present in all parts of baseball. Many baseball players….batters, pitchers, and fielders alike….perform elaborate, repetitive routines prior to pitches and at bats due to superstition…..while the desire to keep a number they have been successful with is strong in baseball. In fact anything that happens prior to something good or bad in baseball can give birth to a new superstition.
Some of the more common superstitions include purposely stepping on or avoiding stepping on the foul line when taking the field….not talking about a no-hitter or perfect game while it is in progress….a superstition that also holds for fans and announcers….while others include routines such as eating only chicken before a game like Wade Boggs….or pitching great Justin Verlander….who eats three crunchy taco supremes (no tomato), a cheesy gordita crunch and a Mexican pizza (no tomato) from Taco Bell, before every start….and drawing in the dirt in the batter’s box before an at bat for Twins great Justin Morneau, the 2006 American League Most Valuable Player winner, wears # 33 to honor his idol….ex-NHL goaltender great Patrick Roy…whose ritual before every Twins’ home game entails stopping by the same Jimmy John’s Gourmet Subs….located on Grand Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota….and ordering the same sandwich from the menu….Turkey Tom with no sprouts….then he drinks a slurpee from a slurpee machine in the Twins’ clubhouse made of one-half Mountain Dew, one-half red or orange flavor.
Certain players go as far as observing superstitions off the field….like with early 20th century 2B Amby McConnell….whenever he was in the middle of a batting slump….he would scavenge the streets and pick up any pin he found….believing this was a sign he would break out of the slump.
So, as you see by these examples above….superstition is plentiful in baseball…..and all sports….as evidenced by the fact that this piece on superstition was even produced….and we at ImaSportsphile are delighted to have this video piece to allow our viewers a chance to understand superstition in sports…. especially when legendary Stevie Wonder is singing his “Very Superstitious”.
