Baseball Superstitions
We’ve all seen them. Players go out of their way not to touch the foul line. A pitcher has a no-no going late in the game? Players don’t dare talk or sit next to them in the dugout. These are just a few of the most common ones. How about some of the more eccentric even borderline pathological superstitions that baseball has given us.
Most know of Wade Boggs and his obsession of eating chicken prior to every game. Former NL reliever Turk Wendell had to have exactly four pieces of black licorice in his mouth while he pitched. Then Wendell proceeded to spit them out and brush his teeth each time he returned to the dugout. Larry Walker had a thing with the #3. Besides wearing #33 his entire career, Larry would always set his alarm clock to 33 minutes past the hour. Walker even went so far as to get married at, you guessed it, 3:33 PM.
Then there was the strange case of former Indian outfielder Kevin Rhomberg. Rhomberg only played a total of 41 games for the Tribe back in the early ‘80’s, but he used that short time to make a name for himself. Kevin “Touch Me, Touch Me” Rhomberg was his nickname. When touched or tagged on or off the field of play, Rhomberg felt compelled to touch the other person in return. This led to players playing mean-spirited tricks on Kevin. Former teammate Rick Sutcliffe once touched his foot underneath a bathroom stall causing Rhomberg to touch everyone in the clubhouse having not known the culprit.
Now, I’ve made it known that I’m a superstitious person myself. Not Kevin Rhomberg superstitious, but I have my quirks and slight oddities. Just the other day when Flav spoke glowingly about my Flap fantasy team I knew I was doomed. I purposely had said nary a word for weeks as not to squelch their good fortune. I told Flav that morning thanks for jinxing them. Sure enough, later that night my Pussies had dropped a full 5 pts. in the Flap fantasy standings. Was it just a harmless coincidence? Maybe so, but my Pussy sure was sore the next morning.
What do you think about ballplayers and their superstitions? Are you Superstitious (IRE) [by Bluebird out of Stellar Empress] yourself? Did I just jinx our red-hot first place Giants and their current 36 IP scoreless streak by broaching this subject? You’ll know who to blame if we’re on the short end of an 11-1 thumping tonight. [no jinx]
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Not a smart play by Panda there.
FIsh doesn’t bounce the throw, they get him.
Out at third.
Come on. Baserunners all nightt. Dogs down 5
You’ve GOT to be kidding me…
Well, that sucked
I just now learned that Cozart led off the game with a HR. I must’ve been busy talking to the Clydesdale horses down at the Antler’s. Those horses are my friends. So is Zack Cozart. He’s my starting SS in our Flap fantasy league. [no jinx]
Is it true that Cozart’s family changed the spelling of their last name because they were embarrassed by “Idomeneo”?
‘
Let my #2 pencil show you a few of my favorite things…
Danny Vermin: I enjoy collecting protection money, putting whores to work, loan-sharking. I enjoy planting bombs in people’s cars. These are a few of my favorite things.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfbB0p-yyLA
Sound of Music??!! Why you miserable cork-soaker!
If the Artless Dodgers continue to lose tonight–I don’t give a fuck how this game comes out.
One thing I’m certain of though–I’m having an insane cop/sane cop brain thingie happening–
Insane Cop: Cain has obviously lost it!!–perfect, schmerfect, he’s a complete loser and needs to be sent down to Double A. He calls himself a Major League pitcher??!! On this very day my dead grandmother has more velocity than Cain!!!
He’s a slacker, he’s a smacker, yeah he’s a mid-town flacker (apologies to Steve Miller)
HANG HIM! HANG HIM FROM THE YARDARMS!!
Sane Cop: Shut the fuck up!! It happens. To paraphrase a line from a great Jack Nicholson movie, it’s baseball, Ted. It’s just baseball.
well my 17 hr day closes and the good news is that i could wake up in the morning to a stunning comeback. or i could wake up to the fact that they’ve lost which i’ve already processed. win win it seems to me. superstition?
Come on. ONE run?
And, never apologize to Steve Miller. He’s ripped off more riffs than any man alive.
Nicholson’s best baseball work was done in Cuckoo’s Nest.
“Koufax… Koufax kicks. He delivers. It’s up the middle! It’s a base hit! Richardson is rounding first. He’s going for second. The ball’s into deep right center. Davis cuts the ball off! Here comes the throw. He throws it to second! He slides! He’s in there! He’s safe! It’s a double.! Richardson’s on second base!”
“Koufax is in big fucking trouble! Big trouble, baby! All right. Tresh is the next batter. Tresh looks in. Koufax… Koufax gets a sign from Roseboro. He kicks once. He pumps. He fires. It’s a strike! Koufax’s curve ball is snapping off like a fucking firecracker! All right, here he comes with the next pitch. Tresh swings. It’s a long fly ball to deep left center! It’s going! It’s gone! Let’s hear it! One way!”
Nice. “COME ON, CHIEFFY!!! RAISE YOUR HAND!!!!”
Looks like my wife and daughters picked the wrong game to see.
Or an awesome comeback.
Hey!!! Better late than never.
So Pablo kept it from being a shutout.
God Bless the SF Buddha!
Pablo just raped one of my Clydesdales. That’s a good thing.
[no jinx] shutout here. I’m so happy to announce that we didn’t get goose egged on my watch.
I’m a goddamn jinx. But at least I’m not a call 9-1-1 and hide the women and children folk kind of jinx.
Am I?
Uhm…okay
Why do I get the feeling Leake partakes in Civil War re-enactments?
Obviously, God fucked up . . . He instructed his baseball angels to give the Giants their 5th shutout and the message got garbled somehow, thus the reason why the Mets (Dickey) are pitching a shutout to the Bums and we’ve been given the shaft by the Reds. It’s all Heaven’s fault.
Pfffsttshhst. Fucking Heaven
My sentiments exactly.
Way to go, Denny. Ah, just kidding. A fine post today and lots of good stuff about Dusty, too. I think we could use a little SRV, though.
To quote Paden for Silverado, this game was “bad luck”.
And so it goes. Oh my good Heavens, Cain is 9-3!!??
In the words of Rick Derringer–KEEP ON ROCKING!!
Goodnight, gentlemen (question mark)
You’ll have to tuck yourself in Ted.
blade: news of the Colorado Springs fires are reaching over here. Must be a motherfucker. I know that wind can come east off the prairie and up into that area. I re-commit my prayers to the people and forest fire fighters in this terrible disaster.
Thank you Ed . . . Any good thoughts and prayers are much appreciated. Ironically, when I was stationed at RAF Mildenhall back in the 1970s, I was part of an Air Force medical rescue team and we fought mutual aid wild fires along side your countrymen in East Anglia forest area. Forest fires are the most dangerous fires to fight due to their unpredictability and conditions, e.g., wind, humidity, temperature, terrain, crown fires, etc. Couple that with fighting the fire with fire breaks and limited fire equipment, such as saws, shovels, tractors (usually little or no water, except from air tankers). In short, they make structural fires look like child’s play.
Yes, I grew up in the forests of the Sierra Nevada’s and have great respect for the training, risks and equipment used in the woods. I know teams from several states must be on site helping each other with this one.
Yes, per our governor, he indicated the other day that we have 50% of all wild land fire fighting resources available in the U.S.A. in Colorado right now. Even though the fires are approximately 50-60 miles away, the entire State “smells” of smoke right now.
All kidding aside, I really would like to thank Flav for his life-long dedication to the Flap. It didn’t fully dawn upon me until my turn came up as a Stable Boy what was required. And what was required, at least to me, was to continue to feel like a brother amongst all the other bothers here on the Flap.
Thanks to Flav and all his endeavors, the Flap is no place like home. [cue Judy Garland]
Not that it was ever in doubt, but it’s now official: Giants still have first place all to themselves.
Ha ha. Cain got a little irked that some reporter asked him, “How did it feel to give up a home run to Leake?”
He said “It felt great. You want to ask another question?” He laughed, but he wasn’t very thrilled with the question.
I would have responded, “That’s a clown question bro . . . “
It was a woman, but yeah . . . . . .
I think the stable boy who posts the thread should be periodically critiquing the response to it during the day . Why is it always the other way around? I think DMD deserved better than the stale stupidity he received for much of the day…