Baseball Superstition

Often referred to as America's pastime, baseball is the most iconic American sport in history. Originating from the European sport of Cricket and the late nineteenth century American sport of rounding, baseball has endured nearly one hundred and fifty years since its first team, the Cincinnati RedLegs, were introduced in 1868. Once a common activity of leisure for factory workers in the industrial northeast, baseball evolved into a dynamic sport that currently dominates American sports in popularity among the youth and shares national spotlight with football and basketball. Similar to other sports that have changed over time, a culture developed through the generations of baseball players that had taken part in playing the game. From iconic …show more content…
There are two main types of superstition: superstition in one’s routine and superstition that would prevent an unseen force, or “The Baseball Gods” as many refer to it, to sway the game in favor of the opponent. An example of the first type of superstition is how a batter can take an incredibly long time to restrap and spit in his batting gloves, knock the dirt off his cleats with his bat, adjust their shirt sleeves, and smear the chalk lines with their feet between a pitch, like Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco (“Superstitions in Baseball” YouTube, uploaded by William Wallace, www.youtube.com). Likewise, it is extremely common for pitchers to prance around the lip of the grass surrounding the mound, get the dirt of their cleats with the spike-cleaner, relentlessly toss the rosin bag up and down, and repeat the same motion with their limbs before every pitch thrown. These examples demonstrate how batters and pitchers alike have rhythms that they base their performance off of. For instance, many batters feel uncomfortable hitting if they are unable to complete their pre-pitch routine. This is due to the amount of mental toughness and concentration needed to compete in baseball. For example, a batter has approximately 2.5 tenths of a second to decide whether or not to swing at a pitch (Sommer, Lauren. How Can Anyone Hit a 90 Mph Fastball? Science Explains!, www.kqed.org). Consequently, the superstition of pre-pitch routines developed for pitchers, batters, and fielders in order to focus at the task at hand. Without these superstitions many players would feel uncomfortable when playing the game. Of course spitting on the ground and readjusting one’s gloves will not make a difference in the physical outcome of one’s swing, however the rhythm and sense of comfort created by this superstition allowed the player to enter a collected state where their focus increases. The