The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-06-13
SUPER STITIoN IN BASE BALL.
Signs and on,ens are Powerful In
dications With the Players.

There are in the United States of America
10000 900 of people, Of which 7SO can be prop
erly called professional base ball players
20,0c0 amateurs and the remainder fans,
says the Chicago Tribune The private life of
a professional, If he has a private life,
is OF interest to the IS, 979, 22O- He is a per-
sonage one day hero, the next back num-
Der, and his life is like the life of no other
class, profession or trade. He lives in g.
base ball atmosphere at all times and can
never free himself from it. The professional
ball player is wise, polished, shrewd, sus-
picious and cunning fellow rendered so from
his business in which his nearest friends
are his dearest enemies.
The whole profession is full of peculiar
tiles, and not the least interesting Of ITS
distinctive traits is the thread of super
stition which is found everywhere in it.
Every player has his pet Jonah, hoodoo,
or mascot, his signs Of good and bad luck
and his firm beliefs in the infallibilty of
them.
Capt Adrian Constantine Arson himself
has his weaknesses and leanings toward the
mysterious. He forecasts victories and de-
feats in mis- dreams, and when pitcher is
unexpectedly called upon to work 1t is a
sure thing that the ''old man. has been
dreaming He first discovered his g'it of
prophecy many years ago while living at
strayed from the farm and was missing for
days. Cap-he was only a private then-ate
q hearty supper of corned beef and cabbage,
with maple syrup or something equally light
and nourishing, and retired. During the
night he had Wis ion of mired in a
swamp miles from the house. Investigation
found the cow in the swamp. Since then
II he has vision of young man with in
growing freckles and an aggravated case of
elongated legs being hit all over the lot by
the other fellows he rubs Briggs name off
the card and DenZer does the pitching
Superstition is the life of the little leagues
and while the custom of carrying mascots
has become almost obsolete in the National
the minors still hold to the Jonah. That
fhnrn 10 &C. .I, -
the record Of the San Antonio team in the
Texas league in 1884, That team opened the
season at home and lost the first nine games
straight The team was discouraged and sore.
They held a meeting and were On the point
of firing their mascot or committing vio-
lence on his person when Josh Reilly, the
old Colt, who is now, playing a good third
for Kansas City, came to the rescue with a
new proposition. The mascot was put into
full dress coat with gray base ball trousers
and silk hat, and the bats, some half a
score of them, we're piled upon hts back.
Then the team formed In line and marched
down to the hotel where 1.-The divine healer -
| Schrader, was stepping.
The divine was brought forth and made to
pronounce a blessing upon the bats. That
afternoon the team went against Forth Worth
and poursded out twenty-eight hits and
through all the season those inspired bats
| continued to give out base hits, and the
! team went close to the top of the league
Reilly is still batting with one of the
blessed clubs and it's inspiration seems not
to have all oozed away yet
Strange to say the number 13 does not
| carry any weight with the base balfist Some
times he objects to sleeping Berth Is in the
sleeper, but never If 1t is lower Is. A load
| of hay on the road to the ball park is con-
| sidered a good omen, and the players will
| invariably stop the carriages and rob the
! load, returning with the straws stuck through
! their hair and caps and assured of victory
! Among the Colts there are supersttions
| but Bill Lange does not consider it bad luck
for a cross-eyed girl to wink at him If she
! is pretty in other ways, and Jimmy Ryan
while firm advocate of signs, says that the
only one that never fails is the one on tbs
fence in right