But no pitcher was quirkier than Mark “The Bird” Fidrych. To avoid any misunderstanding on the route it was to take, the Detroit Tigers right-hander spoke to the ball before each pitch, in a whisper so batters couldn’t learn the ball’s intended path. Fidrych had a phenomenal 19-9 record in his rookie season and started for the American League in the 1976 All-Star Game. His deity, it seemed, was the most powerful. But his next four seasons produced a 10-10 mark, and he was out of the major leagues.

Another reason that baseball superstitions die hard is that hexes do seem to exist in the sport. The Chicago White Sox were involved in the infamous Black Sox scandal in 1919; since then, neither the White Sox nor their north side counterparts, the Cubs, have won the World Series.

Dame Fortune has tormented the Boston Red Sox for eight decades. In 1918 owner Harry Frazee, heavily in debt from supporting a bevy of showgirls and backing the wrong Broadway shows, traded away most of his stars, including Ruth, to the New York Yankees. Superstitious fans knew disaster would follow; since that year the Red Sox have not won a World Series. The Yankees have won twenty-three championships. Boston’s faithful still refer to the incident as the “Curse of the Bambino.”

Perhaps consequently, sometimes only a team effort can get the attention of the god of superstition. The Philadelphia Phillies once carried black cats onto the field in an (unsuccessful) attempt to put a curse on Jackie Robinson. The Atlanta Braves try to ignite rallies by wearing their caps backwards. In 1994 the Milwaukee Brewers were mired in a fourteen-game losing streak. They counted on a box of Lucky Charms and a “lucky” goat, then went out and lost another game.

But the minor-league Salt Lake Trappers carried it a bit far: In 1987 the entire team opted for the no-wash rule to extend their winning ways. No player washed his socks, and some washed nothing at all. They achieved a 29-game winning streak, a professional baseball record. When the streak was over, the rest of the league breathed easier in more ways than one.

Leo “the Lip” Durocher, one of the surliest players and managers ever, always rode in the back of the bus to break a losing streak. He coveted hairpins (“See a pin and pick it up/ All the day you’ll have good luck / See a pin and let it lie / All the day you’ll have to cry”).