Famous Baseball Superstitions

The Curses of the Babe, the Black Sox, and One Angry Goat

Jun 13, 2007

For as long as men have played the National Pastime, there have been baseball superstitions. Here are some of the best.

Baseball superstitions have been around for as long as the game itself. In the 1870s, Cap Anson refused to speak to his starting pitcher on the day that he was pitching. The 1894 Baltimore Orioles sat down together one hour before batting practice and chugged glasses of turkey gravy. Hall of Fame third baseman Wade Boggs ate fried chicken before every game. It worked: Boggs won five batting titles, two Gold Gloves, a World Series and collected 3,000 hits.

Ten Minor Superstitions

3. "Statting" a player by mentioning his excellent statistics in this situation is seen to jinx that player. Fox announcer Joe Buck is famous for doing this, especially in Yankee games. "Mussina hasn't given up a home run in a personal-best 54 innings, but here comes Big Papi, David Ortiz, who is in the midst of a home run drought himself."

4. Holding on to a lucky bat or glove, no matter how old, chipped, worn-out, or covered with pine tar that piece of equipment may be.

5. Refusing to wash a piece or part of an entire uniform during a hot playing streak. For example, Houston Astros' Craig Biggio does not wash his batting helmet for the entire season.

7. Not shaving after a first post season win. This superstitious practice was first done by the 1908 Chicago White Sox on their run to the World Series title and revived by the 2005 Boston Red Sox.

This one lasted for 86 years and ended in historic, glorious fashion for the Boston Red Sox. After playing six seasons, and winning three World Series in Boston, the Red Sox sold their finest player to the New York Yankees for $125,000 in cash and a $300,000 loan. In his last year with the Sox, Ruth hit .322 with 29 home runs and 114 RBI. He also started 17 games as a pitcher, posting a 9-5 record and a 2.97 ERA. But the Sox let him go. Then all hell broke loose -- in both towns.

In 1920, Ruth hit 59 home runs, more than any team in the major leagues that season. He hit 54 the next year. He hit .342, smashed 714 home runs, and set nearly every Major League hitting record in the book.

During his fifteen-year run with the Yankees, Ruth led the team to seven AL pennants and four World Series championships. From 1920 through 2003, the Yankees won 39 American League championships and 26 World Series titles. The Red Sox, on the other hand, won zero World Series during that 85 year period. Although they did win four pennants, they lost every one of those World Series, all in dramatic and heart-breaking fashion.

All of that changed in 2004 when the teams met for the third time in five years in the ALCS. The Yankees took a 3 games to none lead, and appeared poised to capture their fortieth pennant. But then the Sox put the beat down on the Yanks, sweeping them four straight. It was the first and only time that a baseball team had come back from such a deficit. It broke the hearts of New York fans, and it reversed the Curse for Sox loyalists.

As has been well-documented, the 1919 Chicago White Sox threw the World Series in exchange for payments from gamblers. The scandal resulted in the appointment of a new baseball commissioner, the banishment of eight Black Sox players, and an almost 90 year drought in World Series championships. The ChiSox finally reversed their own curse by pummeling Roger Clemens, Craig Biggio and the Houston Astros in the 2005 Series.

The Chicago Cubs have endured a longer period of futility than either their cross-town rivals or the boys from Fenway. The last time they won it all? 1908. That's a very long time. There have been many explanations for the Cubs futility. But they did make the World Series in 1932 and 1938.

They made it back to the Fall Classic in 1945. That year, the Cubs not only lost the Series, they were also hexed by an angry fan. As the story goes, Billy Sianis, who owned a nearby tavern, had two box seat tickets to Game 4 of the 1945 World Series between the Cubs and the Tigers, and decided to bring along his pet goat, Murphy. The goat wore a blanket with a sign pinned to it which read "We got Detroit's goat". Sianis and the goat were allowed into Wrigley Field. At this point, the head of Wrigley Field security waved the goat's box-seat ticket in the air and proclaimed "If he eats the ticket that would solve everything." However, the goat did not.

Before the game was over, Sianis and the goat were ejected from the stadium at the command of the Cubs owner due to the animal's objectionable odor. Sianis was outraged at the ejection and allegedly placed a curse upon the Cubs that they would never win another pennant or play in a World Series at Wrigley Field again because the Cubs organization had insulted his goat.

The Cubs lost Game 4 and eventually the 1945 World Series, prompting Sianis to write to Wrigley from Greece, saying, "Who stinks now?"

The copyright of the article Famous Baseball Superstitions in Baseball is owned by James Lincoln Ray. Permission to republish Famous Baseball Superstitions in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.