Baseball Magic by George Gmelch

Baseball Magic

---> In the article "Baseball Magic" by George Gmelch, it talks about how players and their

rituals they perform before a game. The whole idea is to show how two different cultures, American

Baseball and the Trobriand Islanders both have the same idea. That idea being that if you change

your way of doing something it ultimately ruin you. Keeping things the same will keep your luck

the same.

-----> The article talks about rituals, how Dennis Grossini, a Detroit Tiger pitcher, would do

everything the same on game day. Dennis would wake up at the same time, eat lunch at the same

time, in fact he would eat the same lunch. All this was to win the game, he think that if he lives

everyday the same way he did the day he won. That the out come will always be the same. Some

may think that this is just stupid, but in reality it may work. By touching your hat or shirt, it reline

your hand to where it was when you threw the strike. A ritual for me that in high school before we

went on stage to do a play we would all have to jump up and hit the sign above the backstage door.

-------> The article also talks about taboo, to where players can not say a certain word or it will

break the luck of another player. The one mentioned in the book is when people say "no-hitter"

around the pitcher, it there for makes him throw horrible from then on. In theater people say "break

a leg" instead of good luck. Taboo for me is every tim... [to view the full essay now, purchase below]