I blame it on my mom. When I was a kid she got me into all this superstitious stuff. In a fun and lighthearted way as well. And it always involved sports. She would make “banana pancakes” the morning of a big game i was going to be playing in. Or sardine sandwiches before games on Saturday afternoons or evening games during the week. Sardine sandwiches?!?!?!?! Really?!?!?! Let me tell ya if you’re slumping at the plate there’s no better remedy! Whether it was real or had a placebo effect let’s just say it definitely had an effect on me! I was ripping bullets all over the yard after a couple of sardine sandwiches!
I always put my cleats on in this order: Left shoe on but don’t tie it. Then on goes the right shoe. Then you tie the right shoe then come back and finish by tying the left shoe. It’s a long story why but that’s how I’ve always done it since I was a kid. I will suffice it to say the list is long of the “stuff I’ve done” throughout my life to keep the superstitions alive….
Maybe it’s my Indian blood……believe it or not I have more than a negligible amount of Cherokee blood in my DNA….,
Regardless of where all this came from, it’s no coincidence that superstitions and rituals made their way into the Verdugo Program. And opening day 1992 we saw four (4)…..yeah count ’em! FOUR new rituals that cropped up kinda outta nowhere for us. And before I report on our opening-day game for ’92 we’re gonna briefly go over them all…..
And here’s the first one…..
June 6,1992….opening day. Verdugo versus Agoura/Oakpark at Glendale High. Overcast day….arrived at the ballpark nice and early to do field prep with The General.
We arrive and there is already a bunch of our players already there! Just kinda milling around. The field was a mess and we got it taken care of (that’s another ritual we will discuss later) but I realized game time was drawing close and I had left a bunch of stuff in my car and walked back to the parking lot to get everything. It’s a long walk from the field to the parking lot at Glendale High if you remember…..
I’m digging around for all the stuff we need for the game in the back of my car when I hear Bull Oxen’a voice behind me. “Gee I need a game ball so I can get loose in the pen”
I opened a brand new box of Diamond D1’s and pulled out three and started juggling them while they were still in the shrink wrap. Canale is looking at me like “just give me the ball man”….,
I stop the juggling and catch two and flip the third one his way…..
perfect feed….
belt high…..
and what does he do?
he drops it!
I laughed and told him right there “if we win today you know we are gonna have to perform that ritual before every game until we play a lousy game and then we will find a new ritual…..you know how I like my rituals!”
The Bull Oxen and I performed that little ritual before every single game we played for the next two seasons. Because for the next two seasons, I could honestly say we never played a lousy game. I guess this new ritual worked out pretty well….we went 38-6 during the regular season in 1992 and ’93.
1992 would be his final season for us as a player but he was back with Verdugo in ’93 as a coach….
So all of 92 and 93 before every ballgame I would juggle ….then toss one Canale’s way ….and he would intentionally drop it…..and keep the ball if he was pitching OR it was his job to give the ball to whomever was going to be the starting pitcher for us that day……
Ritual Number two is next….
verdugo288 