Superstitions, routines, and rituals have long been a part of sports culture.
When it comes to the Toronto Blue Jays, simply watching the players step up to the plate will help you spot some right away.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. always writes ‘Dios’ — the Spanish word for ‘God’ — in the dirt with his bat before he gets into the batter’s box.
George Springer has used the Travis Scott song “Butterfly Effect” as his walkout song since 2017.
Even the entire organization is buying into the team’s current win streak having something to do with wearing a white-panel, throwback-style cap.
“I didn’t pack another hat,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said with a smile on Monday when asked if he believed the caps were good luck.
But it’s not just the players who have superstitions about what works and what doesn’t. Some fans get in on it too, convinced some of their moves at home also pass on good luck to their favourite team.
The hat rotation
Casey Scott lives in Saskatoon, Sask., and has been a Blue Jays fan since their inception in 1977. So much so that he’s known as the “crazy” Jays guy around his neighbourhood.
“Last summer, a fellow chased me down in my neighbourhood, in the street, and he walked up to me, and he knew me,” Scott told CTV News Toronto in an interview Monday.
“He recognized me, he knew I was a Jays fan, and he had a bag in his hand. He handed it to me, and he goes, ‘That’s for you. You’ll probably appreciate it more than me.’ I looked in the bag, and it’s a brand new Vladimir Guerrero (Jr.) jersey. He said, ‘I’ve never worn it before. It’s for you.’”
Scott said he was also gifted three hats in his time as a Blue Jays fan, and those are what he uses to help the team win.
“I pick a hat depending on what the Jays have been doing,” he explained. “Let’s say if they lost the day before, I will change hats. But if they won the day before, whatever hat I was wearing, I’ll stick to it.”
“There was a point in time that I was afraid to change my hat during the 10-game winning streak.”
Scott said he also has a “really nice, beige, fitted” Blue Jays hat that he’ll wear on the final game of a series if the team is going for a sweep.
Also part of the superstition attire... a Jays “bunny hug” — Saskatchewan slang for hoodie — or a sky blue, short-sleeve, button-up dress shirt that Scott said he wears for the first game of each series. If the Jays win, he puts his gifted Guerrero jersey overtop for the next game. If that one ends in a win, blue sunglasses come out to complete the ensemble for game three.
Sometimes Scott’s superstitions will even extend past just his clothes.
“Even if I’m walking to the pub to watch a game, I’ll walk the exact same route, same angles, everything, if they’re on a winning streak.”
Sleeping on it
Diane Marsh, of Calgary, Alta., has been helping her team win for a “long time” with her set of rituals.
Part of that help comes from a “baggy, tacky nightie” that she wears the night before a game.
“It’s got the Blue Jays logo all over it,” Marsh told CTV News Toronto on Monday. “So, that’s the night-before-a-game attire, because I would jinx everything if I didn’t (wear it). And if that gets dirty because they’ve played a few days in a row... I’ll just wear one of my Blue Jays T-shirts, but it’s got to be a Jays insignia on the front for sure.”
Marsh added that another one of her superstitions surrounding the team means she isn’t in the room during Toronto’s first defensive inning of any game.
“If I make the mistake of sitting on the couch when, say, Bassitt takes the mound, I know I’m in trouble. And then I’ll hop up and leave the room yelling, ‘Sorry, Chris, sorry,’ and I stay out until (he’s done pitching) the first inning.”
Marsh also said she’ll wear the same T-shirt and eat the same snacks for the next game if the Jays won the day before, so tonight, for Game 3 of the American League Division Series (ALDS), she’ll wear the same shirt and snack on the same things as she did over the weekend.
Outside of her gameday attire, Marsh is the proud owner of a wide variety of Blue Jays memorabilia that she used to turn her spare bedroom into a self-described “shrine.”
Worthy of the rafters
Fellow Calgarian Dennis Gaumont hangs his Toronto Blue Jays jerseys up on ceiling hooks, but only if they deserve to be there.
“Last year, for example, I took their jerseys down at the All-Star break because they weren’t doing very well and I decided if they start playing better, I’ll bring them back out,” Gaumont explained on a call with CTV News Toronto.
Unfortunately, the Jays didn’t fare too well for the remainder of last season, and Gaumont kept his jerseys hidden away. This year, though, is a whole other ball game.
“I had taken down my Guerrero Jr. jersey in mid-August and said I wouldn’t put it back up until he hits a long overdue home run,” Gaumont shared. “Before Saturday’s game I said to myself, ‘Well, Vladdy, if you hit a home run, I’ll bring your jersey out of my closet.’”
“I didn’t even sit down and he hit the home run. So, I went and got his jersey out of my closet and I hung it up on the ceiling, but I only faced the front of the jersey toward the TV. I said to him, ‘If you hit another home run, I’ll turn it so your name faces the TV.’ After Sunday, it’s hanging up from the rafters (name side out) and everything’s good.”
Only one jersey gets to hang from the ceiling at a time, and Gaumont’s numerous others get put on display on the couch. All of his jerseys were purchased by himself, whenever he’s had the chance to see the Jays play in Toronto or on the road.
He’s been a fan of the team since their first season in 1977 and travelled to Toronto this year to see them play for his 75th birthday. Unfortunately, his wife wasn’t able to make the trip with him, as she had passed away, but she also had her superstitions when it came time to supporting “her boys.”
“She’d wear her hat backwards if they were winning. That was her biggest superstition,” Gaumont said.
For these die-hard fans, they’ll be hoping their rituals help when the Jays take the field at 8 p.m. for Game 3 of the ALDS in New York.
With files from The Canadian Press
