Mojo: Superstitions color the game By HAL BOCK The Associated Press Big league players superstitious? Nah.Just make sure not to step on the foul line coming into the dugout. And don't forget to touch first base on the way to the outfield. And wear the same clothes when the team is on a winning streak. "Locker Room Mojo" a new book, is an examination of the curses that athletes swear surround them and the cures applied to foil those forces of darkness and evil. Plenty of players believe there is evidence that more than simple skills are involved in winning and losing ball games. So, they seek recourse -- maybe a rabbit's foot, maybe a lucky penny, maybe something more drastic. "The placebo effect, the power of belief, is strong in everything" said co-author Nick Newton, who admitted he had a ritualistic way of taping his stick when he played hockey. "I believe a lot of athletes focus on stuff to alleviate the anxiety of things they can't control." The message is the games are hard enough without tempting fate. So, when you find a lucky charm, hang on to it. That's what John McGraw did. McGraw, the tough-guy manager of the New York Giants in the early part of the century, played no-holds-barred baseball. Once, when he was stationed at third base for the Baltimore Orioles, he employed a bit of defensive ingenuity by belting an unsuspecting baserunner in the jaw as the poor fellow rounded the bag. Still, as tough as he was, McGraw would not defy the fates. He would pick up hairpins and pennies -- face up, only -- that he came across in his travels. Once he contracted with a local brewery to send a horse-drawn beer wagon with empty barrels past the Polo Grounds for 10 days because the first day it happened, one of his players collected a hatful of hits and the manager thought there might be a connection. So, when Charlie Faust, a farmer, approached McGraw in a St. Louis hotel lobby in 1911 and announced that a fortune teller had predicted greatness for him as a pitcher with the Giants, the manager arranged a tryout. Hey, as lottery players like to say, you never know. Faust was awful and McGraw dumped him, but only temporarily. A resourceful fellow, the pitcher made his way to New York to pursue his destiny. His arrival coincided with a Giants winning streak and McGraw, taking no chances with destiny, had him fitted for a uniform. He even let Ol' Charlie pitch in a couple of games, throwing two uneventful innings in which he surrendered two hits and two runs and earned a place in the Baseball Encyclopedia. Faust hung around with players like Christy Mathewson and Rube Marquard, and the Giants won three consecutive pennants. A coincidence? Perhaps. The fact is, however, that in 1914, when the pitcher left the team to pursue other interests, New York finished in second place. A year later, Faust died in an asylum and the Giants didn't win the pennant again until 1917. The Chicago Cubs learned a long time ago how powerful curses can be when they are administered in anger. When the Cubbies won the National League pennant in 1945, local tavern owner William Sianis decided to celebrate the event by taking his pet goat, Sonovia, to Wrigley Field for the fourth game of the World Series against Detroit. The Cubs, however, turned high and mighty on him, barring the billy goat at the turnstile. Never mind that Sianis had invested $7.20 for the goat's box seat. The fact is that during the regular season, Sonovia had accompanied his owner to Cubs games with no fuss. Sianis demanded an audience and explanation from team owner Phillip K. Wrigley, who told him that, well, frankly, the goat smelled. Outraged, Sianis cursed the Cubs, advising Wrigley that not only would they lose that Series but that they'd never even get into one again. And when Detroit prevailed, he sent Wrigley a telegram, saying simply, "Who smells now?" The Cubs, of course, haven't been back to the Series since then, despite occasional lifting of the curse by some of Sianis' less vindictive descendants and frequent peace overtures by the team. When they lost the first 12 games in 1994, the Cubs had Ernie Banks march another billy goat around Wrigley. Chicago won the next game but still finished fifth that year. "It is," Newton said, "my favorite Mojo." ©1999 Associated Press << BACK TO REVIEWS