1. My friend was on the baseball team when he was in high school. When he played, he would walk onto the field with a mouthful of water and spit it out onto the field, from both sides of his mouth. This would be before it was his turn to bat or to pitch. He believed that doing this would ensure he would do well in that game. He actually had heard about this superstition from a fellow teammate that would always do this as well during their games.
2. My friend had first heard about this superstition from a fellow teammate. He noticed his teammate performing this superstition one day during one of their games. He had asked them why they did this, and what exactly they were doing. Since that teammate had been one of the best players on their team, my friend believed that this ritual must have been part of the reason why he was so good. So, he started doing the same ritual during their games.
3. Many sports have rituals such as this that athletes like to perform and even customize to some extent. These rituals can be shared amongst fellow teammates, or kept personal depending on that athlete’s belief towards their ritual; like will the ritual still be effective if it is shared with others or not.
4. When I was in track and field in high school, we had interesting superstitions and rituals like this that some of my teammates liked to do. I believed that they were effective in their own way, maybe through the Placebo Effect, but not necessarily due to their own power. I tried some of the superstitions as well before my races and I noticed that some seemed to work for me, but I definitely due think that must have been due to other factors.

*For other versions of this superstition, and one’s like it, see:

“The Craziest Superstitions of Baseball Players.” : JUGS Sports. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016. <http://jugssports.com/the-craziest-superstitions-of-baseball-players>.