Series of Superstitions

Aside from an occasional interruption for an "Are you nervous?" interview by a television announcer, the wives of World Series ballplayers are left to their own devices during the games. Those devices, despite strong disavowals of superstition, are varied and weird. Wives whose teams are on winning streaks usually wear the same dress, hat, earrings and rings as long as the charm lasts.

What worked for the Baltimore women, though, was no help to the Cincinnati wives. They knew that nothing is worse than a losing outfit. Mrs. Jim McGlothlin polished her fingernails just before going to the ballpark, then proceeded to peel off the polish as an antidote to nail biting. It is a ploy that Merle Hendricks, wife of Oriole Catcher Elrod, could have used: she gnawed her nails throughout the Series. Oriole Pitcher Dave McNally got one kiss goodbye and one kiss for good luck on the day he pitched. Should McNally have felt more amorous, it would have been to no avail--two is the limit. Strangest of all were the wives who deliberately didn't watch parts of the game. Twice the Orioles scored while one of the wives was away from her seat. After that, a contingent of Oriole spouses absented themselves every time Baltimore was at bat. They must have been doing something right.

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