SUPERSTITIONS

On Friday the 13th of July, in searing heat well over 100 degrees, 51s hitting instructor Mike Easler wore a thick blue sweatshirt under his uniform while coaching first base at Cashman Field.

Like many other baseball players, coaches and managers, the "Hit Man" adheres to certain routines and habits while working in the most superstitious of sports.

Easler said wearing a sweatshirt during most games stems from his playing days.

"I used to love Richie Allen and he used to wear long sleeves when it was hot. I still do it, like a dummy," said the easygoing Easler, as sweat poured down his face in the dugout. "When I didn't wear them, I'd put two wristbands on to cover up my arms. I didn't want anyone to see my guns. I didn't want to scare anybody.

"Sometimes I don't (wear them) because it's so darn hot here, but I feel naked. My arms are exposed."

Easler also had a routine before each at-bat. He'd "accidentally, softly" kiss his bat and then talk to it, "to make sure it would do what I wanted it to do."

"I'd just say, 'C'mon now, get your head out, don't get beat, see the ball and then explode -- see it, kill it, kill it,' " he said with a chuckle. "We call it controlled aggression. All good hitters look quiet and calm, but inside it's like a raging storm ready to explode."

A former batting coach with the St. Louis Cardinals, Easler said Mark McGwire always would rest his bat on his shoulder in the on-deck circle and close his eyes, visualizing the perfect swing.

"All good hitters have a routine," Easler said. "All it is is preparation and it keeps you fresh."

Las Vegas manager Lorenzo Bundy had several rituals as a player and even more as a coach. He did the same 10-to-12-second stretching routine before each at-bat and then he would spit and swing at it.

"I would hit the spit to stay on top of the ball," he said. "A lot of guys I played with still remember that and they have fun (imitating) it.

"We all get caught up in the routine, whether it's eating habits or pregame work, or even antics when you go to the plate."

Bundy said all of his routines as a manager relate to winning.

As a hitting coach for Tucson and then in the Mexican League last year -- when his teams won the Pacific Coast League, Triple-A and winter league titles -- Bundy wore the same pair of "lucky" socks all year.

Eventually the socks, which he did wash, had holes in them and were worn down, but he still wore them over a new pair.

"I was going to put on the socks that had all the wins in them," he said. "I didn't throw them away until after (we won) the Caribbean World Series. They got the job done."

Bundy also grew a goatee for the first time last year and, because it coincided with a winning streak, he wore it all season.

The Tucson coaching staff also ate at the same restaurant each day the team won.

"It's a confidence thing," he said. "When somebody's confident and feeling really comfortable, they usually perform better."

Most of the 51s players claimed not to be superstitious, but 36-year-old catcher Ken Huckaby adheres to several pregame rituals, from putting on his shoes and shinguards in the same order each day -- right ones first -- to saying the same prayer to performing the same dance step during the national anthem.

"If I mess up that step, it throws me off in the game," he said in earnest.

It could be worse. Huckaby said a former teammate always used to spit in his batting helmet before putting it on.

Another ex-teammate, pitcher Turk Wendell, had the most superstitions of any player Huckaby has ever known.

Wendell would never step on the base lines -- one of the more common baseball superstitions -- but he also drew three crosses in the dirt behind the pitcher's mound and he'd point to the center fielder before each inning.

Wendell's wackiest ritual, though, was probably his propensity to brush his teeth in the dugout between innings.

"He chewed on black licorice when he pitched," Huckaby said. "He'd spit it out after each inning, then brush his teeth. Then he'd put another one in every inning."

51s leading hitter Delwyn Young (.345) said his only superstition is about his bats.

"Sometimes if I use a bat and continue not to get hits with it, I won't use it anymore," he said. "That's probably as far as I go. I don't, like, not wash my underwear or my socks or something if I have a good game, but some people do. I'm still clean."

When informed of Bundy's "lucky" socks, Young wore a look of disgust and said, "I don't care how superstitious you are, that's gross."

Las Vegas left-hander Matt Riley, 27, said he used to jump over the white lines when he was younger, but now his only ritual is wearing his game socks high.

"I'm not a superstitious guy anymore. There don't seem to be too many on this team," he said. "It's just pretty much go out and worry about playing baseball."

First baseman John Lindsey said he also used to be superstitious, but now his only ritual is, er, using the restroom at 6 p.m. and taking a shower by 6:15 p.m.

"I have to do those two things or my day just goes crappy," Lindsey said, no pun intended. "When I was young, I tried to wear the same socks for the whole season, but I figured it wasn't the socks that got me where I was."

Outfielder Choo Freeman, whose only routine is taking two swings before each at-bat, also thinks superstitions are much ado about nothing.

"I think it's all in your head," he said. "So I don't bother with it."

Jerry Reuss, a 220-game winner in the majors and now a broadcaster for the Los Angeles Dodgers and occasionally the 51s, said he was anti-superstitious as a player.

"I'd walk on the foul line," he said. "Guys would walk over it and skip over it, but I purposely walked on it. Nobody said anything, because I was just crazy enough."