Superstition Season Is in Full Swing

Baseball season is up and running, and with it, some of the most incredible superstitious behaviors and beliefs humans have to offer. Examining some of these and outlining what’s behind them adds an interesting dimension to watching or playing. And in baseball, anything goes.

The sport of baseball has many layers.

HeungSoon/Pixabay

Leiker (2005) names a few. Ritualized hopping, bat pointing, charm rubbing, and even licking baseballs. Mid-game clothing changes. Never changing clothes. Jinxed uniforms. Lucky gummy bears, soda, chicken, fruit cocktails, chewing gum, cigars, colors, pens, letters of the alphabet, restaurants, convenience stores, laxative shakes, hotel rooms, cars, numbers, gloves, coats, socks, baseballs, towels, people, haircuts, cologne, and the wearing of a variety of women’s undergarments. Never stepping on the foul line. Always stepping on the foul line. Never walking in a straight line.

Pause for a breath.

Writing in cursive to change the game outcome. Not writing in cursive to change the game outcome. Lucky charms. Curses. Pre-game fire rituals. Cup-stomping rituals. Urine-sprinkled bats. Unlucky resin bags, locker room furniture arrangements, and a particularly unlucky stuffed monkey. Elaborate rituals involving touching, hopping, step counts, napping, pre-game rubdowns, food, driving routes, singing, and equipment routines.

One player’s pre-pitch ritual was so long that he earned the moniker “the Human Rain Delay.”

Baseball has many layers.

Sports provide us with an accepted social outlet to engage in cathartic and healthy behavior, which can include rituals and superstitions. And while all sports lend themselves to these phenomena, baseball wins the prize. Baseball superstitions and rituals are an essential part of the sport, and you will find them rampant in fans, players, coaches, and managers (i.e., everybody). What is behind it? And are these behaviors good or bad?

When you are wearing a specific shirt during a win of your favorite team, might that not be significant? And if you wore it a second time and they won again, is that not proof that you are on to something? Rational thought will tell you that in no way is that related. But people in general, and definitely when sports are involved, aren’t particularly rational. So, yes, that is now your lucky shirt, and obviously, your behavior (wearing a specific shirt) influenced the outcome of the game (positive reinforcement). And if you are a sports fan, it would be normal to wear it every game and even not to wash it.

Superstitions arise out of our desire to control the uncontrollable when we relate an activity, variable, or behavior to an unrelated specific outcome. We see a correlation, take a leap in our minds, and determine something to be causal, creating an illusion of control. Don’t get me wrong—please wear your undefeated lucky underwear, especially if you are rooting for the same team I am.

A study of a range of athletes found that 55 percent had at least one sports-related superstition. The most frequent type of superstitious behavior was a pre-match or pre-competition ritual, followed by lucky charms and/or clothing.

It is important to note that rituals may or may not have anything to do with superstition. Rituals can assist in mentally preparing for a play or be a form of psychological warfare, designed to intimidate the other team or a specific player. In our previous example of the Human Rain Delay, he apparently threw many pitchers off their game by his maddening and lengthy pre-bat ritual.

For players, superstitions can involve a degree of behavior intended to improve performance. A study of major league baseball players in the U.S. and Japan found that the majority engaged in superstitious behavior every game. The extent of superstitious behavior was related to the subject’s belief that luck played a role in the outcome. While this sounds potentially problematic, there is evidence that superstitions and rituals increase performance, potentially by increasing confidence and self-efficacy.

So, if you are a fan, put on your lucky shirt, grab your lucky beverage, sit in your lucky chair, and send good vibes to your favorite baseball team. And watch for their rituals—it adds another dimension to the game.