This past Friday, October 11, marked the start of Major League Baseball’s National League Championship Series. The St. Louis Cardinals played the Los Angeles Dodgers at Busch Stadium. Game 2 of the NLCS took place the very next day, just as the Detroit Tigers faced the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park to start up the ALCS. The winning team in each seven-game series will go straight to the 2013 MLB World Series.
No doubt, these next few weeks will prove to be an exciting time for baseball fans across the nation—namely, for those New Englanders who supported the Red Sox as they went from worst to first over the course of the regular season. As the ALCS and the NCLS get under way, many fans will submit to the stereotype that says baseball is the most superstitious game in sports, performing strange rituals in order to show support for their teams.
The Curse of the Bambino is perhaps the most famous superstitious belief in baseball history. In the early 1900’s, the Boston Red Sox was one of the most successful franchises in the MLB. After the Sox traded the legendary Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees, however, Boston’s team suffered tremendous losses. The prestige they once held now belonged to the Yankees, fueling a bitter rivalry between the two New-England-based teams. The Red Sox were “cursed” after trading the Great Bambino; they didn’t win a World Series for the next 86 years.
Finally, in 2004, the Sox reversed the curse. On the road to the pennant, the Red Sox played the rivaled Yanks in the ALCS and, amazingly, defeat them after coming back from a 3-0 start. In the final seven games of the World Series, the Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0, breaking the curse that had loomed over the franchise for so many decades.
Robert Knapel, featured columnist for bleacherreport.com, compiled a slideshow of some of the strangest baseball superstitions of all time. The list includes:
- Hall-of-Famer Wade Boggs took batting practice at exactly 5:17 every time he played a night game and took exactly 150 grounders during warm ups.
- Kevin Rhomberg (Cleveland Indians) returned the favor every time he got tagged out by touching the person that tagged him.
- Turk Wendell (New York Mets) wore number 99 and signed a contract worth $9,999,999.99.
- Richie Ashburn (Philadelphia Phillies) slept with his bat in the hopes of performing well at the plate.
- Mark Teixeira (New York Yankees) wears two different socks—one with “25” on it and one with “52” because he brought in eight runs for the Yankees the first time he mistakenly wore the mismatched pair
- Jason Giambi (Cleveland Indians) wears a gold thong when he is in a slump
But the players themselves aren’t the only ones getting in on the superstitious action. Fans are equally as superstitious, if not more so, when it comes to performing rituals that will increase the probability of their teams’ success. Curt Hogg, correspondent for bleacherreport.com, lays out a few of the ground rules that all baseball superfans should follow. Among them:
- “If your teams hasn’t scored for seven innings, sit on the ground.”
- “If your team is winning in the ninth inning, chew gum on either side of your mouth that corresponds with left- and right-handed hitters.”
- “If your team has a base runner, don’t go up or down stairs.”
- “If there are less than two outs and your team has a runner on third, mute the TV.”
While the list isn’t one of hard and fast rules, superstitious beliefs appear to be a crucial part to the game of baseball. You can generate superstitious rituals of your own to show support for your team—in fact, it is encouraged—or start simple by wearing your favorite team’s t-shirt on game day. Whatever it is that you believe in, superstition is widely celebrated in the Major League Baseball world. The Red Sox broke the curse, and your team can, too.
#FearTheBeard