Players, coaches say superstitions provide boost to ball teams

Nicholls freshman infielder Chase Jaramillo bent down to tie his shoes prior to Wednesday’s double-header with Arkansas-Monticello.

For the casual observer, there was nothing special about the way Jaramillo was lacing up his cleats.

But to Jaramillo, there was a specific method in place.

“It’s always the right shoe on first, then I tie it, then I put the left one on and I tie that one,” Jaramillo said. “I’m a very superstitious person, so it’s just a habit.”

Movies often portray the extreme superstitions involved in baseball, which leaves some to wonder whether those things are a reality within a baseball clubhouse.

And while Nicholls coach Chip Durham said there are no live animal sacrifices in the Colonels clubhouse and everyone on his team bathes frequently, superstition is alive and well.

“I’ve seen so many different things,” Durham said. “Some guys wear their pants up, some guys let them hang down. Some guys wear the same socks. Some guys jump over the foul line. Everyone has something different. If it makes them feel comfortable, then I’m all for it.”

Nicholls senior infielder Keith Kulbeth said for good luck, the Colonels sing as a team, “Rattle rattle, here comes the cattle, bullpen, bullpen, bullpen,” in unison when an opposing pitcher is warming up.

The senior also said with two balls, two strikes and two outs, everyone on the team rubs the bills of their caps for luck.

“We all have our own little quirks that we do,” Kulbeth said.

Some players are afraid to admit their rituals out of fear that when they’re made public they will no longer work.

But Kulbeth gave the inside scoop on which Colonels have superstitious rituals.

“I think Clint Dempster always wears blue socks and don’t tell him I told you this, but I think Chase Jaramillo doesn’t wash his jock strap,” Kulbeth said while laughing.

Jaramillo neither confirmed, nor denied Kulbeth’s statement, but whatever he did Wednesday worked as he hit his first home run of the season.

“I try to take whatever it might be on a particular day that I play well and always do it,” Jaramillo said.

Durham said the odds-and-ins of baseball are what he believes makes it the best sport in the world.

“That’s the beauty of this game,” Durham said. “This game is all about a player having confidence in what he’s doing and if it’s something small like that consistently being done to give a player confidence, then that’s something pretty neat.”

Baseball’s sister sport, softball also sees the same patterns.

Prep softball sometimes sounds like a musical concert more than a sporting event because of the team-related songs sung inside both dugouts.

Central Lafourche softball player Donna Badeaux said the cheers are to wish her teammates luck and to show team support.

“They help you get pumped up when you’re hitting,” she said. “It really keeps us involved in the game.”

H.L. Bourgeois senior softball players Ashley Allemand, Emily Brown and Megan Roell also said the songs are for motivation, but Roell said she doesn’t hear anything at the plate.

“I am totally zoned out to that when I’m hitting, so I don’t know if it’s good luck or not,” she said.

Aside from the singing, the softballers also have their own reservations about changing something that has previously yielded a victory.

Lady Trojan Ashlyn Grabert said following Central Lafourche’s district-opening win against H.L. Bourgeois on Thursday that a few of her teammates were going to stop washing their pants to keep the team’s good fortunes in tact.

“Those pants are a good luck charm now,” Grabert said.

In the other dugout, the Lady Braves also had a uniform-related quirk.

“We don’t button the second button on our uniforms,’ Allemand said. “With our old uniforms, where the second button was, it felt like cardboard or something, so it just kind of stuck.”

But regardless of the reasons and the many varieties, very few people seem to believe the rituals have an immediate impact on the games.

“It helps a little, but they’re just for fun,” said Central Lafourche softball player Danielle Robichaux.

Durham agreed and said the team with the best execution will have the most effective superstitions.

“As far as contributing to winning or losing, I don’t think there is anything there,” Durham said. “That’s reserved to the best team on that day.”

Nicholls State junior baseball player Tristan Rogers tosses his bat prior to last week’s game against Arkansas-Monticello. The pregame bat toss is one of the superstitious rituals that the team performs before and during games. * Photo by CASEY GISCLAIR