Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-25
BALL PLAYERS HAVE
MANY SUPERSTITIONS

Ball players, a rule are the most SUI
perstitious men in existence, and the stun
they go through to evade supposed hoo
doc is as ridiculous as 1t Is entertaining,
says Addie Joss, in the Toledo Times
Not only the players. but managers and
club owners are affected by this malady.
The ancient Is is evaded on every occa-
sion. and it Is as much as ones life Is
worth to ask player to take No. 10
locker in the club house or to assign him
to berth No. IS on Pullman.
A load of barrels Is considered a good
omen as Is the finding of a hairpin.. Should
a team pass either the barrels or a load of
hay. the boys all raise their hats. and then
II Is an assured fact the days game is as
good as won
One thing a player positively refuses to
do Is to change a base ball shirt after hav-
ing put one on for the game. This custom
is so strong that I have known players to
go out the field with their shirts on
wrong side out rather than run the risk of
provoking Dame Fortune by changing
them.
Another thing the players are particular
about is the direction taken by the team
ster on the way to the ball grounds. Should
q club win the first game of a series, the
players want to be taken over the same
route the next day, and woe unto the
drive who tries to take them In another
direction. To meet cross-eyed person Is
sign, IN the player OPINION, tnat II
Is all Off for that days game.
Armour Has It Bad.
President Armour of the Toledo club has
always been very superstitious, and as the
Cleveland players at the time he was at
the helm there We're aware of this. they
would take advantage of every opportunity
to spring a joke upon bill"
Bradley. who Is as fond Of joke as any
MANAGED find n small hOv uhn
was so cross-eyed that 1t was hard to de-
eide whether he was coming or going. and
in some way struggled him Into the grounds
Brad" knew Armour was on the bench
and he sent the kid in with instructions to
ask Armour IL he wanted a good mascot.
The boy did as he was told, and when
''Bili'' saw those eyes he nearly fell OF the
bench.
When a regular player has fallen of In
hitting. the means he resorts to In order
to regain his batting eye are varied. About
the first stunt Is to change bats; IL this
falls he will assume different position
at bat and as last resort will have some
member of the team. In whom he thinks
there Is good luck. rub his hands on the
bat. Or. II he is real superstitious. he will
have him spit on the end of the bat three
times. Should he make hit the next trip
to the plate, he will come back to the bench
exciaiming: Nothing 20 II; ! knew that
All players have their peculiarities at the
plate. Some are Involuntary; others are
from force Of habit, but the majority from
superstition.
Ball players are not the only class afflicted
with q superstitious vein. and II Is an es-
tablished fact that travelling men will lay
over day or two on trip in order to
trave. to their destination with a ball club
Travelling Men Afflicted.
The knights Of the grip are never afraid
OF railway accident while q base ball
team is on board. When 1t Is taken into
consideration how infrequent are the acct
dents to base ball clubs in the face OF the
amount OF travelling done, 1t can be seen
that there is method in the madness of the
traveller who waits for tho club train.
Always have the broom the umpire uses
to clean the plate On the opposite side Of