Random Baseball Players With All Time Weirdest Superstitions (12 items)

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  (#1) Moisés Alou

  • Right fielder, Left fielder

  Moises Alou was one of the last hitters to not wear batting gloves to the plate. To avoid crazy callouses, Alou used his own organic method: he urinated on his hands to “toughen them up.”

  Surprisingly, there is a bit of science to back his logic. Urine contains urea, which is frequently used in moisturizers to soften skin. Alou played for 17 seasons, and in 1,942 career games, had a batting average of .303 with 2,134 hits, 421 doubles, 332 home runs, and 1,287 runs batted in. His method must have worked but we don't plan to test it.
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  (#8) Larry Walker

  • Right fielder, Outfielder

  Maybe it’s because baseball includes three strikes and three outs in an inning. Or maybe retired Expo Larry Walker was just a weirdo. For whatever reason, Walker obsessed over the number three. He would set his alarm for 33 minutes past the hour, wore the number 33 and took batting practice swings in multiples of three. But it didn’t stop there.

  While with the Expos — a team that signed him for $3 in 1993 — he bought 33 tickets for 33 disadvantaged kids and seated them in section 333. In his personal life, he got married on November third at 3:33 p.m., which unfortunately, didn’t work out. He got divorced — yes, three years later — and his ex-wife landed a three million dollar settlement. Good thing his lucky number wasn’t 100.
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  (#9) Max Scherzer

  • Pitcher

  It turns out that sometimes the best superstition is not telling people about your superstitions. Pitcher Max Scherzer has quite an impressive resume — he was only the tenth pitcher in history to win at least three Cy Young Awards, and is the sixth pitcher to record two no-hitters in the same season.

  There are a couple quirky things that he does, like eating a huge roast beef sandwich before each start or wearing his shorts backwards. But his biggest superstition? “He has this superstition on top of everything else that you don’t talk about your superstitions,” his wife said. “There’s a few I know, a few others that I only think I know.”
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  (#12) Mark McGwire

  • First baseman

  Mark McGwire became a household name during the 1998 Major League Baseball home run record chase. While with the Cardinals, McGwire set the major league single-season home run record with 70, which Barry Bonds broke three years later with 73. But an alleged steroid scandal might not even be the most questionable thing that he did.

  McGwire is said to have worn the same protective cup that he wore in high school during every game of his 16 seasons in the major leagues. Yes, an athlete who signed a $30 million dollar deal with the Cardinals used the same cup for 16 years. Although given the steroid use, you would have thought that he needed a smaller one.
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  (#3) Jim Leyland

  • Manager

  Curmudgeonly manager Jim Leyland, who won over 1,700 games in his career, picked up a couple less-than lovely superstitions while managing the Detroit Tigers. First, in 2011 he smoked a cigar at some point during one of the team's winning streaks, and decided to smoke one every day until they lost.

  He also started wearing the same baseball socks every day at some point during the streak, along with the same pair of underwear. “I will wear these underwear until we lose,” Leyland said. “I can tell you that right now. And they will not be washed. And I don't give a (expletive) who knows it.”
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  (#7) Satchel Paige

  • Pitcher

  Satchel Paige is known as one of the greatest major league pitchers in history — and one of the oldest. In 1948, at age 42, he was the oldest major league rookie while playing for the Cleveland Indians. He played with the St. Louis Browns until age 47, and represented them in the All-Star Game in 1952 and 1953. In 1971, he became the first Negro leagues player to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

  His secret? A little elbow grease — literally.

  Paige was able to pitch nine innings each time he took the mound, something he attributed to rubbing his pitching arm down with axle grease before each game. 

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