It’s been a surprising — and exciting — season for the Orioles. From the auspicious debut of Gunnar Henderson to that amazing mid-summer win streak, the team’s been fun to watch and to cheer on. I won’t pretend to know much about how their record is stacking up, but I know they’ve got a chance to make it to the postseason as a wild-card team ... but they need all the luck they can get.
But I’m not a sports reporter. Instead, I reached out to folks to see who has the best superstition or good-luck ritual for helping the team win.
Stormtroopers and orange decor
Karen Baumeister, who lives in Harford County, told me her house is being overrun with orange decor, and colors that could be seen as supportive of other teams are banished from the family living room.
The family has a large Star Wars stormtrooper that they named “Stormiest.” Her son Charlie gifted the toy a beautiful orange chain. Baumeister said her son moves the stormtrooper closer to the TV if the O’s are losing.
“He now wants to banish other team colors,” she said.
Rotating hats
Adam Ronquillo lives out west, but has been a diehard Orioles fan since he was about 6. Proof? He has a dog named Brooks, and he and his wife are about to welcome a son named Camden into the world, Ronquillo said.
He’s a big hat-wearer, too. In addition to trying to buy at least one O’s hat each season, he has a small game-day ritual: wearing the home hat for home games, and the away hat for away games. Even if the hats don’t have a perfect record, they’re a way to feel connected to the larger baseball community, Ronquillo said.
“I’m not superstitious enough to think either of them actually work, but its one of those ritualistic things fans do that lets me feel closer to the game and part of the team,” he said. “It’s what makes baseball the best.”
A lucky tumbler
Whether there’s a bit of Orioles magic in a tumbler that Rob Sykes of Salisbury bought a few months ago, he’s not sure. But the timing of its delivery was special: The team lost the day he got it delivered, but things have since turned around.
The order was part of a gift for his wife, who wanted a new style and color of a Yeti tumbler. Sykes saw that the company was offering free engravings, including MLB logos.
“It got delayed a few weeks and I got them on the day O’s lost to go season-low 10 under .500,” he said. “And they’ve been on a tear ever since I got it.”
Here are a few other traditions, rituals and superstitions fans told us about. Do you have your own? Let me know in an email or on Twitter.
cody.boteler@thebaltimorebanner.com
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