Even really smart folk can be superstitious. Sure, science and logic objectively trump magic and emotion. Still, once the realities of pragmatism are acknowledged, isn't there room for a little something extra: like a decadent, après-dinner snackie? Think of superstitions as a crème brûlée or a German Riesling, or Cheez-Its: unnecessary, lacking any substance, yet, for some reason, once you've indulged, you feel a little better about everything.

Now that Spring Training is here (meaning, we fanatics survived the off-season and baseball is back!), what better time to indulge in a few silly superstions, odd rituals and nonsensical compulsions? History proves such behaviour is not only commonplace, but, the odder the behaviour, it might actually work.

 

Babe Ruth (OF, LHP; Boston Red Sox 1914-1919; New York Yankees 1920-1934; Boston Braves - manager - 1935) employed the protection of women's silk stockings, worn on off-days, to banish batting slumps.

Both Babe Ruth & Joe DiMaggio (CF; New York Yankees 1936-1951) made pertinent efforts to tap 2nd base on their way back to the dugout, from the outfield.

David Ortiz (a.k.a. Big Papi; DH, 1B; MinnesotaTwins 1997-2002; Boston Red Sox 2003-2016) had a detailed pre-batting ritual. Before stepping into the batter's box, whilst still in the on-deck circle, leaned his bat against his right leg, spat into his left hand and clapped.

Wade Boggs (3B; Boston Red Sox 1982-1992; New York Yankees 1993-1997; Tampa Bay Devil Rays 1998-1999) fielded precisely 150 ground balls every practice and consumed a whole chicken before each game. Baby Boggs really likes chicken! So much so, later he wrote his own chicken cookbook: “Fowl Tips: My Favorite Chicken Recipes”. Inevitably, to-date, he is a.k.a. “Chicken Man”.

Between 1999 and 2004, Turk Wendell (RHP; Chicago Cubs 1993-1996; New York Mets 1997-2001; Philadelphia Phillies 2001-2003; Colorado Rockies 2004) always kept four pieces of black licorice in his mouth, per inning, while pitching. After the inning ended, he jumped “kangaroo-style” over the foul line and into the dugout. Once back in the dugout, he spat out the licorice and brushed his teeth. Next inning he pitched, four new pieces of licorice started the ritual all over again.

Roger Clemens (RHP; Boston Red Sox 1984-1996; Toronto Blue Jays 1997-1998; New York Yankees 1999-2003; Houston Astros 2004-2007) soaked himself in bonkers-hot water, pre-game, then had the hottest possible muscle liniment applied to his genitals before putting on his uniform. (Had it applied … what I really want to know, is who applied it? He couldn't; pitchers can't have greasy goop on their hands.)

Similar to Babe Ruth and his silk stockings - but taking it a step further - Jason Giambi (1B, LF, DH; Oakland A's 1995 -2001; New York Yankees2002-2008; Oakland A's 2009; Colorado Rockies 2009-2012; Cleveland Indians 2013-2014), when facing a batting slump or a persistent struggle on the field, sported a gold thong to change his luck.

Some players don't wear batters’ gloves; the direct friction from a bat-handle can cause callouses, making their hands stronger and tougher. Moises Alou (OF; Pittsburgh Pirates 1990; Montréal Expos 1990-1996; Florida Marlins 1997; Houston Astros 1998-2001; Chicago Cubs 2002-2004; San Francisco Giants 2005-2006; New YorkMets 2007-2008) employed a method most curious: regularly urinating on his own hands. The uric acid makes quick work of a hardening agent. This method, seemingly, worked: a .303 career batting-average and 332 career-homeruns.

Mark McGuire (1B; OaklandA's 1986-1997; St. Louis Cardinals 1997-2001), as a pro, wore the very same athletic supporter he wore in high school and in college, at USC … until it was stolen. Stolen! Who would steal that? (Wait, I might know a girl, a Trojan ginger … )

Derek Holland (LHP; Texas Rangers 2009-2016; Chicago White Sox 2017: San Francisco Giants 2018-2019; Chicago White Sox 2019; Pittsburgh Pirates 2020; Detroit Tigers 2021) , Taco Bell & Wendy's), claimed Taco Bell and Wendy's pre-game “pig-outs’ ($30 worth of fast food fuel) kept away the bad mojo. He was also known to sleep with old bats … baseball bats, not old women … Ha!

Brandon Marsh (LF; LAAngels 2021-2022; Philadelphia Phillies 2022-present) douses his trademark, long, stringy locks between every inning. The look is more greasy than wet, reminiscent of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's priest-turned-street rat, Rickety Cricket. Still, with a career 8.3 WAR (Wins Above Replacement value), he can Cricket all he likes.

Mike Hargrove (1B, LF; Texas Rangers 1974-1978; San Diego Padres 1979; Cleveland Indians 1979-1985) was infamous for driving pitchers, managers, fans and even broadcasters bonkers with his pre-batting rituals. Sportswriter and dedicated, Cleveland Indians reporter, Bob Sudyk, described just such a maddening, ceremonial, pre-bat compulsion.

“With machine-like precision, Hargrove approaches the plate, calls time, grabs some dirt, taps at his pants, sleeves, hitches up his waistband, adjusts his hair, taps down his helmet, squeezes his hand deeper into his batting glove, drains all the moisture from his mouth and steps in after raking some dirt in the batter’s box with his cleats.”

- Bob Sudyk, The Sporting News, May 31, 1980

Jarren Duran (a.k.a. Goldenboy; OF; Boston Red Sox 2021-present) wears his trademark, motivational F*CK ‘EM mantra on a red t-shirt under his jersey: a personal directive to wave off not only haters and nay-sayers, but his self-doubt and own, past mental-health struggles. The back of the shirt reads, Still Alive. He also has the empowering reminders embroidered into the linings of bespoke suits, sported on the 2024 MLB All-Star Red Carpet and at the 2024 MLB Awards Show.

 

Duran is an American League All-Star MVP, ranked 2nd in the League for games played: (160/162) and debuted on MLB's “Top Ten Right Now: Leftfielders” at No. 2. His 2024 Red Sox season slashed .285/.342/.492 with an .834 OPS, 75RBI, 8.7 WAR and led the entire Major League in doubles, tied for the lead in triples and knocked 21HR. I'd say his ritual, red tee and mantra are working. Go, Sox! Go, Goldenboy!

 

As with individual players, teams have their own good luck measures.

The 1894 Baltimore Orioles credited their National League pennant that year with a secret ingredient: gravy, on everything they ate.

The 2024 Chicago Cubs attributed a 7/12 gane winning streak to a random gift. Cubs manager Craig Counsell received a Taylor Swift candle as a present and took it to the Cubs’ clubhouse. There, he and clubhouse manager saw to it, that it was lit before every game. By the twelfth game, in seven of those games, the Cubs had made a total of seventy-three runs: the highest the Cubs had scored in a seven-game span since 1961.

Animals are, quite literally, the most natural of lucky talismans.

The San Diego Padres had a black panther statue in the dugout for a bit, which players pet for good luck: including Juan Soto when he played for the Pads (2022-2023). As of his 2025 15yr/$765M signing with the New York Mets, he is the highest-paid player in MLB history. That's some sizable luck there! Who's a good panther kitty?

More notably was the Padres’ rally goose, spiritually adopted after one landed on the field, at Dodger Stadium in L.A., during a Padres/Dodgers game in 2022. By “spiritually adopted”, I mean, there were, seemingly overnight, goose tees, plush, hats, etc., available online. Oh, Internet, you.

So, why did the Padres claim the away-game bird, rather the Dodgers doing so? It seemed a sign from above, considering still-cherished, still-mutton-chopped, former pitcher Goose Gossage (RHP, San Diego Padres 1984-1987).

There have been rally cats, rally squirrels, a rally snake (eww) and even a rally rat, after a little guy ran into the outfield during a Mets/Nationals game in Washington, D.C. When he was questioned by the media, as to why he ran out there, Ratty, a Mets fan, replied simply, “I wanted to know if the grass was spongy. It is.”

 

The most lovable animal, though, might be the L.A. Angels’ Rally Monkey. The original rally monkey was named Katie, when introduced in 2002, when the team was still kniwn, accurately, as the Anaheim Angels (they are still in Anaheim, in Orange County … there is no Los Angelesanythingabout Orange County). Katie posed and acted for all the rally monkey footage played on the big screen over the outfield.

It's important to know, Rally Monkeys only appear if the Angels are down by four or fewer runs, in the sixth inning or later. Then, they appear on-screen to their hop-up song, House of Pain's Jump Around (also happens to be Jarren Duran's walk-up song.)

Rally Monkeys do their jobs well. They rally the crowd, gets folks excited - thousands of $40 stuffed rally monkeys flailing and waving in the stands - and, most importantly, intimidate the opposing team.

 

I don’t like the Rally Monkey. I’m scared of the Rally Monkey. You’re out there in the outfield and the monkey just pops up on the screen. That’s kind of scary.

- Matt Kemp, L.A. Dodgers OF: excerpt from a 2012 AP interview

 

Of course, like naming a boat wrong, a well-intended good-luck measure can do you real mean sometimes …

August 10, 2024, on-field at Fenway Park, before a Boston Red Sox/Houston Astros game, Dave McGillivray (DMSE Sports, Inc.-founder and MA-based marathoner, entrepreneur, philanthropist and sporting-event organizer) graciously donated his 2024 Boston Marathon medal to the team, presenting it specifically to Jarren Duran. Known as one of the Sox’ most enthusiastic and supportive players, Duran is usually the teammate seen waiting at the dugout steps, holding aloft a distinct, blue-and-yellow marathon medal to celebrate HR-hitters, placing the medal around the neck … and maybe a nice pat on the head or the bum. Showing all the Bro-love. (Who doesn't love Bro-love?)

Note, there was already an identical good luck/celly medal: RS manager Alex Cora's very own which he earned completing the Boston Marathon's 5K race, before the 2024 Sox season began.

 

A reminder, looking back on the second-half of the 2024 RS season, you don't change a good luck charm mid-season. MacGillivray's gesture was a kind one; that's his thing, to give and share and promote hope. Still, after a phenomenal first-half of the season, starting that August 10th, the second-half fell, well, flat. Batting averages dropped, Ls stacked up, player slumps ensued, personal issues plagued some of the boys.

Whereas before mid-July's All-Star Game, in which the American League won (incl three Red Sox: Jarren Duran, Tanner Houck and Raffy Devers, who unfortunately was forced to sit out due to shoulder pain) there was such optimism for a post-season. Sadly, there came no playoffs, no post-season. Boston ended 2024 with a precisely mediocre season: 81W-81L.

A list can be a nice break from reading long paragraphs. Here's a nice list of Baseball's most common superstitions:

• Pitchers jumping chalk lines (a.k.a. foul lines or baselines) heading to and from the mound

• No talking about no-hitters or perfect games when a game is in progress

• Repetitive batting stances and pre-batting rituals

• Flipping a baseball cap inside out to start a rally (Generally applies to fans, bringing good luck to a team in the last inning.)

• Leaving the pitcher alone on the day of his start, including no interviews or questions from the media

• Crossing yourself, pointing skyward and kissing your bling after a home run

• Using lucky bats and gloves

• Players naming their bats

• Eating certain foods before and during a game, especially sunflower seeds and gum

It's not only players and teams who are bonkers, of course. Fans’ behaviour should have (likey does) a billable, DSM-number for psychologists.

Yours Truly has her own game-day superstitions. Starting with gear, I have to wear a Red Sox tee (duh); but, it must be a specific tee based on varied factors like, home-game, away-game, certain players (slump/streak/verge of a record/etc). There's an emerald-green, blingy, “Lucky” barrette, a pretty Red Sox bow, and my blingy, shamrock bracelet which I must don, every game. If I forget, I must run upstairs, grab any missing pieces and hope I didn't do permanent damage.

I can't miss first pitch: especially if it's an away-game: Duran leads the Boston lineup and visiting teams always bat first. Baseball courtesy.

Any beverages must be consumed from RS barware.

River Monstering …

So, besides the Marathon medal, Boston also has a celly gesture known as River Monster: a clawing motion enacted by the whole team when a player gets on-base. My husband has to River Monster before each game. If he forgets, I remind him. If necessary, I can River Monster myself.

Let it be known, my ritual accessories and actions do work. The Red Sox 81-81, 2024 season proves that 50% of the time, all my baubles, bows, barware, behaviours, tees and River Monsters worked 100% of the time.

 

 

Fellow baseball-junkie (Dodgers-devotee, Mookie Betts fan-boy and famed animator and illustrator, Kelly Kennedy (Spongebob Squarepants, Little Golden Books, Highlights Magazine) claims a more mellow, yet still superstitious, approach.

I'm not superstitious, but I do feel inclined to wear my team sweatshirt even at home while watching a game if I'm really trying to will the team into winning. If I don't, then it's like my 7th inning prayers won't be heard!

- Kelly Kennedy

Spongeb … I mean, Kelly is correct. Late-innings are bonkers important! Hence the inside-out rally caps, Matt Kemp's scary Rally Monkey, and, perhaps one of Baseball's most honoured rituals, Fenway Park's 8th-inning singing of Neil Diamond's “Sweet Caroline” … bah bah bahhhhh!

If you've only ever participated in a “Sweet Caroline” sing-along at, say, Oktoberfest, that's joyous! 800 crazed Deutschers waving their happy Steins aloft, swaying back and forth? So much fun!

However, “Bah bah bahhhhh!-ing” with 36K crazed Red Sox, and visiting-team, fans in unison and waving your $20 Fastball aloft (the official Fenway cocktail)? That isn't simply joyful or fun; it's exhilirating, almost spiritual. It's, So good! So good! So good!! This baseball-girl highly recommends it.

 

One can't reference stadium singing sans the 7th Inning Stretch sing-along: “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”. The anthem's Major League debut arose during the 4th inning, of Game 4, of the 1934 World Series. (St. Louis Cardinals def. Detroit Lions, 4-3 in seven games).

However, the song was penned a generation previously in 1908 by lyricist Jack Norworth and composer Albert Von Tilzer. Norworth was inspired by a baseball-game advert he noticed whilst riding the subway. Ironically, Tilzer would not attend his first ballgame until twenty years after recording the renowned tune; Norworth wouldn’t attend his first until thirty-two years afterward! This is a clear, double-failure, gentlemen.

To be precise, stadium songs aren't superstitions, so much as rituals. Still, if music directors stopped playing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”, anywhere, in the 7th, or “Sweet Caroline”, at Fenway, in the 8th, I imagine there'd be a fluster about it. I'd certainly fluster. Of course, I'm known to fluster about many a thing.

Whether it's wearing the same tee or unwashed socks, singing loudly, eating a specific snack, sporting special bling, listening to psych-up music or watching certain shows pre-game, good luck charms and behaviours can help, if it builds confidence and self-empowerment. It's that winning feeling and it can come to fruition.

My own press toward wishful excellence in Irish step-dancing employs just as many quirky beliefs, reliances and Lucky Charms as in any other sport. (Yes, Irish dance is a sport.) For Yours Truly, there's definitely a baseball-belief crossover.

 

Maybe it's the mystical nature of the Irish landscape and folklore, yet superstition just clicks with Irish dance. Naturally, like with baseball, the athleticism is what matters, mostly. Sans preparation, all the little rituals, charms and psychology are just nonsense taking up time, sentiment and space in your gym bag. I can meditate, present offerings to my Misty Copeland Barbie and rub my old ballet slippers all I want; but, without the lifetime training and talent, I'm never going to be Misty Copeland (American Ballet Theater's female principal dancer).

So, to achieve my own Irish-dance goals (Adult Champs-level; U.S. Regionals; Oireachtas “where the bad-ass dancers go”), it starts with training and discipline on all facets: gym workouts, yoga sessions, nutrition, home dance-practices, classes, listening to my coach (Miss Christine), visualizations, meditations, bites of sports-psychology, journaling, drills, YT tutorials and far too much helpful advice and tips from other dancers online. It also means keeping negative thoughts about my perceived skill, talent and progress at-bay. F*CK ‘EM, right?

After all that, there wait patiently for me, when I'm ready, in my brain and my dance bag, myriad little measures of good luck.

 

Here are a few more easy lists to save you from those long-winded paragraphs.

JennyPop's good luck dance-charms:

• My gold, JennyPop necklace

• My Linda Belcher, tennis socks (dance trick: wearing socks under your black tights, to make your shoes a little snugger)

• Mommy's teensy, Steiff teddy bear in his teensy, green-glitter top hat, procured from Miss Christine's Prize Bucket

• A strand of cheap, green beads you get at any bar on St. Patrick's Day, given to me by my "step-sister" (fellow Irish Step-dancing cohort DancyFitz)

• My "Pretty Girl Award", a shamrock wand handed to me by some drunk dude one St. Patrick's Day at O'Sullivan's Irish Pub

• My lucky St. Patrick's Day towel

• My Connemara marble bracelet, a Christmas pressie from my sister-in-law who was there to see me not cry at my very first feis

• A plastic shamrock I found on the floor of the dance studio (prob overflow from Miss Christine's Prize Bucket)

• A blingy, Betsey Johnson, shamrock bracelet

• The first three feis-medals ever earned: two silvers and a bronze at San Diego Winter Feis

• A lucky penny I found at a feis

• A cold-brew coffee bottle cap that reads Good Luck! on the underside

• My official, red, Jarren Duran F*CK ‘EM tee (worn the day, and night's sleep, before a feis; or, if it's a long drive, in the car before changing into my dress)

• My Jarren Duran All-Star AL/MVP baseball card (well-protected in double-plastic covers)

• Any one of my Red Sox caps to wear for the ritual, après-feis Guinness, at any nearby Irish pub or sportsbar

• My “JennyPop #19” official Red Sox baseball jersey: pre-feis/après-feis warm-up/cool-down gear

• A pirate ring purchsed on a recent trip to Salem, Mass

• My delicate, silver, Celtic knot bracelet: a Christmas pressie from DancyFitz

• My unwashed, red, baseball turn-out socks (worn throughout the relentless,10dy-Final Countdown home-practice stretch): also a Christmas pressie from DancyFitz

• My Tiny Linda Belcher action figure, complete with teensy wine-glass and -bottle … because every dancer needs a cheerleading dance mom … All right, Jenny!!

“You carry all that to feis?!” he suddenly realized, upon reading.

Yes. However, I'm either wearing it, or it fits in a small jewelry pouch, or a pocket in my dance bag or purse. Ot looks like way more than it actually is. I mean, one charm is a penny and another is a bottlecap. At least I'm not taking my Jarren Duran-signed baseball … or my Duran-signed Fenway seat. Although, hmmmm …

 

Of course, after all those charms do their best magic, the most important ritual is the après-feis Guinness. Whether it's a celly or a consolation, it must happen.

On Feis Day, besides making sure my good luck charm-bag is safely tucked in my dance bag and I'm wearing all my proper gear and accessories, there's little time for any silliness. It's time to seriously shine. However, there are still a few silly musts:

• Eating a bowl of Lucky Charms

• No weighing myself (even a 1.5lb surprise can play w my brain)

• Only pump-up tuneage in the car, on the drive: hip-hop (Snoop Dogg), Irish pub rock (Dropkick Murphys) or Eminem and mgk

• No negative talk or talk of future dance

• Drinking one Sbux “doppio espresso with foam”

• Eating one Cheez-It per dance (that's seven total)

• Never say, Good Luck! to another dancer; we say, Have fun! (After all, feis is Irish for festival!)

• Most importantly, never ever EVER tell me my results until I have completed all my dances … don't do it

• If there are bad results, “no crying in the car on the way home”, per Miss Christine

 

Super prior to a competition, like, the week prior, there are shows I must watch:

• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, all the Ireland eps (S15, e4-8)

• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, “Frank Reynolds' Little Beauties” (S7, e3)

• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, “Charlie Catches a Leprechaun” (S11, e8)

• Family Guy, “Peter's Two Dads” (S5, e10)

• Flashdance

• The Game That Changed Everything: Yankees vs. Red Sox ’04 ALCS

• 30 for 30, “Four Days in October” (S1, e24)

• Any baseball game or MLB news

   

Conversely, I cannot, will not, must not watch anything Irish dance-related, like Jig … and so help me, no Riverdance or Lord of the Dance. Whilst this is some of the best dance inspo available, it can be soul-crushing right before a competition.

Aren't superstitions silly, after all? They're simply coping devices to keep our temporal lobes chill so no one gets hurt: that brain bit which regulates all those stupid feeeeeelings and emotion.

Nevertheless, psychologists admit a measured amount of superstition and ritual - in any endeavour - evidently does increase performance, largely by a placebo-like effect of increased confidence. Whitening your teeth, doing your nails, getting highlights and sporting new bling won't actually affect your memory, muscle movement, agility or speed; but, it could affect your overall performance as you hold yourself higher, sturdier and prouder.

The ritualistic oddities of baseball and Irish dance parallel each other because both sports are total head-games.

Baseball is America's Pastime and, if you're fortunate enough to hit the Majors, results can be life-altering (i.e., Juan Soto's Mets contract). It's a very small club, though, and the land is littered with grown men (and some chix) fan-boying (-girling) for the guys with the job they really want.

My father was a lifelong Padres fan and a Babe Ruth (Red Sox years) devotee. He oft stated the three greatest men in history were Socrates, Sigmund Freud and Babe Ruth. He also happened to be an über-educated and noted clinical-psychologist with four degrees and lucrative practices throughout his sixty-year career. Still, within the year he passed, he repeated the strain one day, on a drive along PCH, that he always wanted to play baseball professionally. “I'd give it all up today just to play in the minors,” he claimed. He meant it.

“Some guys have heart, some guys have an arm. I had all the heart, but I didn't have the arm.”

- Dr. Bobo

Irish dance itself has a pretty narrow path with remarkably few options at the top: performing professionally (Riverdance, Celtic Steps, Busch Gardens and some smaller dance companies employing seasonal dancers), or teaching and/or owning a dance academy. Most dancers “age out”, however, in their teens: tiring of the hard-core workouts, weird wigs, heavy dresses and regular travel (not to mention the bonkers-costs associated therewith).

By fifteen or so, many want to move on to, you know, life as a teen: high school, college, dating, other sports, etc. They also probably get tired of questions like, “What's up with your arms? Why do they just hang there?” and, “Why are your wigs so big?”

Adult Irish-dancing is a relatively new occurrence and its popularity is growing. Still, the sport remains predominantly children and adolescents and they're supernaturally good. No bones, I suppose, when we're little.

In the end, good luck charms are important on some level because, honestly, the randomness of even being born proves that luck, serendipity, Fortuna's Wheel, God, whatever/whomever you call it, does play a role in our very existence. Whether it's a 98mph fastball barely missing a batter's head, or a dancer's slick jig-shoe missing a dangerous, stray bobby pin or rhinestone on the stage - or actually falling prey to such accidents - there's an element of luck (good and bad) in everything we do, every day.

“The man who said ‘I'd rather be lucky than good’ saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose.”

- Christopher Wilton, Match Point, written and directed by Woody Allen

May the ball always tip forward for you, Fair Reader … and remember, F*CK ‘EM.

 

 

Baseball and Irish-dance seasons are upon us! Baseball's Opening Day is March 27th and St. Patrick's Day is the pinnacle of March Madness (Irish Madness, not Basketball's). Follow @JennyPopCom (IG) and subscribe at jennypop.substack.com for all the #JennyPop/#BostonJen/#CelticJen baseball-y, Irish-y goodness here on Substack, at jennypop.com and on X & IG at JennyPopCom.