As the national anthem plays before a Dirtbags game, pitchers Brandon M. Godfrey and Adam Wilk stand together as they face the flag. It isn’t by coincidence.
Early in the season, Godfrey and Wilk stood together before a game and the Dirtbags won. For the remainder of the season, they haven’t dared changed their pre-game ritual.
This is no new thing. This is just one example of the many superstitions that some Dirtbags do before a game.
Baseball is known as a superstitious sport, and baseball players are arguably the most superstitious athletes.
The Dirtbags are no different. One might think after playing baseball their entire lives, players would get over rituals that some might think are silly, but to the players, they are as important as hitting and throwing.
For example, the rosin bag, a staple on the mound for most pitchers, is left untouched by some Dirtbag relievers.
“I don’t really mess with the bag,” pitcher David Roberts said, but denies that it has anything to do with luck. “I just never have. [I] never touch the rosin bag, not a rosin bag guy.”
Instead, he licks his hands and wipes them on his pants before each pitch.
Roberts’ superstitions don’t end with the rosin bag. He also places his glove in a certain way on the railing in the dugout and plays catch with pitcher Trevor Johnson before each game.
Another superstition players have is with food.
“I need to eat some sweets, some chocolate [before a game],” said third baseman Jason Tweedy, who has been munching on candy for the last couple of years before games.
Pitcher and first baseman Shane Peterson has to eat Chipotle before a game.
“I usually go to Chipotle on Friday,” Peterson said.
He had gone once before a game and felt like it brought him luck. Now he tries to go before every Friday game.
Something spectators can see during a game is a ritual involving the whole team (although no one really knows why) is when there are two balls, two strikes and two outs in an inning (aka duces).
During duces, the whole team crouches down in the dugout, throws dirt, taps the side of their hats and when the batter swings, the entire team takes their hats off.
Head coach Mike Weathers doesn’t really know where the tradition came from, but he isn’t complaining about it.
“[It keeps the players] alert and engaged in the game. [They’re] not just watching as spectators.”
