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(#11) Wade Boggs
- Third baseman
Hall of Fame third baseman Wade Boggs enjoyed an 18-year career that included appearances in 12 All-Star Games and a 1996 World Series win with the Yankees. When he retired at the end of the ’99 season, he had a .328 career batting average and over 3,000 hits.
And he owes it all to chicken.
Boggs would eat chicken before each game (earning him the nickname “Chicken Man”), and insisted on taking batting practice at 5:17, running sprints at 7:17, taking 150 grounders during warmups. and drawing the word “Chai” (Hebrew for “life”) in the dirt before coming up to bat. In 1984, Boggs even published a cookbook with his wife, Debbie, titled, not surprisingly: “Fowl Tips: My Favorite Chicken Recipes."
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(#2) Jason Giambi
- Designated hitter, First baseman
A player in a slump will find any way they can to get back on track. Possibly no other player in history went as far as Jason Giambi - or at least they won’t admit it.
A former Yankee and Athletic, Giambi admitted he'll wear a gold thong beneath his uniform when he needs to overcome a slump. Apparently he kept the thing in his locker during his days with the Athletics and brought it with him to New York, where teammates have tried wearing it, too. How does that work while wearing a cup? So many questions.
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(#1) Moisés Alou
- Right fielder, Left fielder
Moises Alou was one of the last hitters to not wear batting gloves to the plate. To avoid crazy callouses, Alou used his own organic method: he urinated on his hands to “toughen them up.”
Surprisingly, there is a bit of science to back his logic. Urine contains urea, which is frequently used in moisturizers to soften skin. Alou played for 17 seasons, and in 1,942 career games, had a batting average of .303 with 2,134 hits, 421 doubles, 332 home runs, and 1,287 runs batted in. His method must have worked but we don't plan to test it.
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(#7) Satchel Paige
- Pitcher
Satchel Paige is known as one of the greatest major league pitchers in history — and one of the oldest. In 1948, at age 42, he was the oldest major league rookie while playing for the Cleveland Indians. He played with the St. Louis Browns until age 47, and represented them in the All-Star Game in 1952 and 1953. In 1971, he became the first Negro leagues player to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
His secret? A little elbow grease — literally.
Paige was able to pitch nine innings each time he took the mound, something he attributed to rubbing his pitching arm down with axle grease before each game.
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(#10) Derek Holland
- Relief pitcher, Starting pitcher
Professional athletes allegedly treat their bodies like temples, only putting in quality goods. Not so with pitcher Derek Holland, who would gorge himself on fast food before a start.
His typical Taco Bell order included: “Four cheesy gordita crunches with cool ranch taco shells, a spicy volcano burrito, a chicken quesadilla and to finish it all off, [I’d] have a caramel apple empanada," he explained. "That used to actually be my pregame meal. Not at the stadium, but the night before. I would crush Taco Bell or Wendy’s guaranteed.” He had a fastball that topped out at 95 mph, so no wonder he was throwing some gas.
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(#3) Jim Leyland
- Manager
Curmudgeonly manager Jim Leyland, who won over 1,700 games in his career, picked up a couple less-than lovely superstitions while managing the Detroit Tigers. First, in 2011 he smoked a cigar at some point during one of the team's winning streaks, and decided to smoke one every day until they lost.
He also started wearing the same baseball socks every day at some point during the streak, along with the same pair of underwear. “I will wear these underwear until we lose,” Leyland said. “I can tell you that right now. And they will not be washed. And I don't give a (expletive) who knows it.”
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About This Tool
Some rituals and superstitions may really have some influence on personal performance. Since these actions have become part of the habit, they may help athletes to be more relaxed and at ease, as well as help clarify thinking and relieve anxiety. Baseball players are really a strange group of people. You may not notice some of their strange superstitions at all, many people always think that it is a normal game rule, but it is not.
The superstitions, small moves, or rituals of these top baseball players not only appear on the court but when they return home, there are even more weird tricks. Welcome to check the generator which displays random 12 baseball players with the weirdest superstitions.
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