Superstitions and baseball: So happy together

Baseball and superstitions have been entwined since the first day the game was ever played, which is well described in the book of Genesis, if I'm not mistaken. Superstitions in baseball have long included not touching the foul lines when you run off the field, and avoiding speaking to or even making eye contact with a pitcher in the middle of perfect game or no-hitter. \nOn Sunday, superstition enthusiasts worldwide celebrated as the king of baseball superstitions, Wade Boggs, was enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Boggs' pre-game routines have been well documented including eating chicken dinners three times a day on game days. This habit earned Boggs the highly creative moniker "Chicken Man", as well as several nasty bouts with salmonella. \nBoggs also fielded exactly 150 ground balls before each game, and would take batting practice at exactly 5:17 p.m. and run wind sprints at 7:17 p.m. before night games. Boggs' pre-game routines became so famous that before a game in Texas, then-Rangers announcer Chuck Morgan altered the field clock so that it would skip from 7:16 p.m. to 7:18 p.m. Sure enough, Boggs went hitless that game.\nBoggs certainly wasn't the only baseball player to abide by several superstitions, and he certainly wasn't the zaniest either. Former Cubs, Phillies, and Mets middle reliever Turk Wendell will probably go down as the player with the wildest in-game routines. Wendell would wave to his center fielder before the start of each inning and following the end of each inning, he would sprint back to the dugout, avoiding the foul lines of course, where he would immediately begin brushing his teeth. After brushing his teeth, Wendell would then eat four sticks of black licorice before re-taking the mound. \nSome might say Wendell was merely a superstitious player, while others may say, myself included, that he was a profoundly disturbed individual on the brink of a severe psychotic episode. Either way, the man had a filthy slider. \nMany other players have graced us with their odd and eccentric habits throughout the history of the game, including former Tigers pitching star Mark "the Bird" Fidrych. Fidrych, so nicknamed because of his resemblance to Sesame Street's "Big Bird", would talk to the baseball between every pitch. Rumor had it that Fidrych would have deep philosophical discussions with the ball, such as the age old debate of who would win in a knife fight -- a killer whale or a giant sea squid? \nOther superstitious players include former Tigers ace Denny McLain, who was the last pitcher to win 30 games in a season when he went 31-6 in 1968. In addition to racking up the wins for the Tigers, McLain would also drink a Pepsi between each inning that he pitched in a ball game. Not only is this activity not recommended by the American Dental Association, it has also been proven that soft drinks increase the amount of phosphorous in the body, which in turn extracts calcium from your bones, leading to untold long-term health risks. After his retirement, McLain served two federal prison sentences in the '80s and '90s, one for federal racketeering involving gambling and cocaine, and the latter for stealing from a company's pension fund. \nThe honor of most \nsuperstitious player in the game today belongs to Cubs shortstop Nomar Garciaparra. When leaving the dugout, Nomar makes sure he touches every step equally with both feet. The superstitions continue at the plate, where he excessively touches his wristbands and fidgets with his batting gloves, and before each pitch comes, he continually taps the toes of his feet to the ground in the batter's box. \nWhile researching for this column, I became inspired to share some of my superstitions that I practice before I write each column. For example, before I begin writing, I take my left shoe off and place it in my pillowcase, which I then proceed to swing around my head precisely 33 times in a counterclockwise fashion, all the while singing "Rocketman" by Elton John. I then eat a meal of Skittles, cloves, and mint jelly mixed together in tomato paste at exactly 12:27 a.m. Without performing these superstitions, I fear my column would come across as incomprehensible, unreadable gibberish. Thank God for superstitions.