Very Superstitious

By Taryn "The Coop" Cooper
Posted Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Last week, while I was still on vacation, I had a hard time understanding what exactly happened with the Mets and “Shave Gate.” OK, so Carlos Beltran shaved his head. No, no, Carlos Beltran shaved David Wright’s head. Wait, no Carlos Beltran shaved almost everyone on the team’s head. So now the Mets are a bunch of cue balls. Very nice. Well, maybe except for Shawn Green, who had enough trouble having his hat stay on his head when he had hair.

But will Shave Gate be the time that we look back on for 2007 and say – THAT’S when the team turned it around?

I mean let’s think for a second. David Wright and Carlos Delgado both go yard in the week they shave their heads. Take the series from the Giants and win the first game against the Brew Crew and the feared (?) Jeff Suppan?

And how ironic is it that Jose Reyes was the lone holdout…and the team loses once he does go through with the deed?

I guess my whole point of these ponderous questions is that – are baseball fans and baseball players superstitious in nature? Does one go without the other?

Last year, Michael Kay was called out on commentator “etiquette” about talking about no-hitters as they were occurring…then famously went on his rant about the Holocaust and slavery (how that happens, I have no idea).

This season, Gary Cohen made a comment about how if he had the type of power to thwart a no-hitter simply because he talked about it, he might have to find a new job. Yet we fans won’t even talk about it in the stands. It might “jinx” the pitcher.

Meanwhile, back at camp, Mets fans have inflicted upon themselves the most famous of curses, something I think Mets fans sort of obsess about more than other teams (well, I know I do, that’s for sure). This is the “Curse of Nolan Ryan,” the simple idea that trading the famed Ryan has impacted the ability for any Mets pitcher to complete a no-hitter.

But how much power do we have as fans or commentators? And better yet, how much of a hold does that type of thinking have on the player himself?

Turk Wendell, one of the most beloved Mets of the late-90s, had a few “quirks” of his own. Turk had to have the umpire roll the ball to the mound, he would not stand the same time his catcher did, hid in the dugout between innings…and wore the number 99, in honor of Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughan. From the movie Major League!

And my newest favorite Met Oliver “Oh Pea” Perez has that jump over the first base line-thing, as he walks to the dugout. It gets more and more animated when he knows he just got out of a big inning or as he’s leaving the game.

Look no further than Nomar Garciaparra for some of the most notable quirks in professional sports. Even MLB The Show has these animated tics on its graphics, as he hits and crosses himself several times before the pitcher can throw a ball.

Red Sox and Cubs fans have common ground in their “curses” which apparently prevented them from winning a World Series for multiple generations. The Red Sox had the Curse of the Bambino. The Cubs have the Billy Goat Curse.

I have to say, I am a bit intrigued with how superstition plays in the conscious of any sports figure. Being a person of science, I find it fascinating that some of the most grounded people in my life have superstition and “jinxes” in the back of their minds.

My boyfriend, Mr. The Coop, is convinced that he has a lucky hat. A lucky hat and his Bad News Bears jersey (complete with the “Chico’s Bail Bonds” advertisement on the back and Tanner’s number on the front) equal to a Mets win, he says.

My dad had a lucky Mets hat that he wore during all the critical games in 1999. Unfortunately for him though, it was pink. But as soon as they lost a game when he wore it, he was able to ditch it.

I, myself, have even been accused of being superstitious. Not only am I into numerology and feng shui and believing things belong in a certain place for it to work “right”…I had a good luck stuffed panda bear that wore a Rangers cap during their improbable 1994 Stanley Cup run. I took full credit for their win, yes I certainly did. My mother, superstitious she was not, gave the bear to my cousin while I was away at college that fall. My cousin, the Devils fan, who promptly gave it a Devils cap…And how many Cups have the Devils won since then?

I famously once called Mr. The Coop a jinx after attending a bunch of games in 2002, the Mets having won none of those contests. Woodside Tommy put me in my place by saying – the Mets have far worse problems than what you can jinx them for.

I think the bottom line is – with Shave Gate, drawing a J in the dirt in the batter’s box, eating black licorice and brushing teeth between innings, pouring rum and offering a cigar for Jobu in your locker prior to games or sacrificing a live chicken before a one-game playoff…does is really help the team?

Maybe in morale terms. Let’s face it, the shaved head thing really brought the team together. The fans were able to see a more relaxed team and perhaps a more relaxed team was able to get Carlos Delgado to hit one into McCovey Cove. Or David Wright to hit a home run off Jeff Suppan at Shea.

But as our buddy “The Stat” would say, one cannot quantify morale. Maybe Stevie Wonder said it best: “If you believe in things you don’t understand, then you suffer…Superstition Aint the Way!”

Related info:
Discuss In Our Forums

 E-mail this page
 Printer-friendly page