i'm not superstitious, but i am a little stitiuos.
athletes, and it seems baseball players in general, are fairly superstitious. there was a whole insert set in 2018 topps allen & ginter dedicated to various superstitions, and i finally added the card from that set that featured dodger pitcher clayton kershaw.
i didn't really think that kershaw wrapping his pitching arm in a towel between innings had anything to do with a superstition, but i could be wrong. the back of the card (not shown) mentions things like sitting in the same spot of the dugout and eating the same number of sunflower seeds between innings, but nothing about using the same number of towels or making sure the powerade logo is visible or anything like that.
i don't remember following any superstitions back when i was playing in high school, except for the time that a teammate was throwing a no-hitter. not only did we not talk to him (yeah, there's a card for that), we did not even look at the guy between innings. instead we huddled together and vowed to make the plays behind him. by the time the game had advanced to the point where we were conscious of the possibility of a no-hitter, an error had already been made so there was less pressure on us. we made all of the plays from that point on, and he got his no-hitter. probably because we didn't talk to him between innings.
Well, that's cool. Closest I've been to a no-hitter was watching one on TV.
ReplyDeleteI don't really get the Kershaw thing either. Pitchers can ruin their arms by not keeping them warm between innings. So it seems more like common sense than superstition.
yes i just figured he did that instead of wearing a jacket - not because he was superstitiuos
DeleteIf there is something that he's doing different, one would think that somebody from Topps might ask him about it, so that they then might be able to mention whatever it is on the back of his card.
ReplyDeletetopps person: "find me a picture of someone doing something in the dugout"
Deletesecond topps person: "ok"
Really wish those Superstition cards were a bit easier to find. It's a great idea for an insert set.
ReplyDeletethese and the skippers minis. jeez.
DeleteWhenever there's a no-hitter in progress, the focus is always on the pitcher... but like you pointed out... the rest of the team feels some pressure too. I'd hate to be the guy screws up a perfect game with a routine throw or something.
ReplyDeleteumps, too - like jim joyce or the home plate umpire for milt pappas' no-hitter - i recall reading that he called a ball four that could just as easily have been strike three to allow for a perfect game instead of what became just a no-hitter.
Delete