The Atlanta Braves broke into the spice cabinet and set some sage on fire Monday. Then the team started up on fire.
The Atlanta Braves obviously needed a change after Sunday’s double debacle at the hands of the Diamondbacks. But who would have guessed that it would come in this manner?
https://twitter.com/TallishHobbit/status/1386814819165163521
Spelling aside, this was probably the reaction of many. Supposedly the sage burning is a cleansing ritual… perhaps with Native American origins. Whatever. That this came from Dansby Swanson was definitely an “oh really?” moment for many.
On the whole, it’s not a lot different from any of the litany of superstitions that we saw suggested in the movie Bull Durham. Heck, if there was any baseball stereotype not in that movie, then it was simply because the filmmakers ran out of time to cram them all in.
Why? Because when it comes to superstitions, baseball players are among the worst.
It could involve cap wearing, uniform style, the wearing of unmentionables, shaving of beards — or not, stepping over lines and not on them, not changing certain items of clothing (ewww), eating the same meals, or going to the same restaurants. That’s just for starters.
UPDATE: Freddie Freeman changed his walkup music tonight to his son’s favorite song… and promptly ripped a single through the shift. Guessing that song’s a keeper, amiright??
At least the Braves didn’t resort to cutting the head off a live rooster yesterday.
Snitker on the Swanson Sage. ""All I can remember is on Yellowstone, that guy used the sage to get rid of the spirits. ... I didn't know whether to smell it or smoke it." #Braves @TalkingChop
— Cory McCartney (@coryjmccartney) April 27, 2021
The best thing one can really say about superstitions is that they somehow make you feel that there’s just something different from before.
Maybe that means that you’re now thinking about the ritual rather than that last AB in which you cork-screwed yourself into the ground while swinging at an unreachable pitch 6 inches outside.
If so… then sure: that might work.
I have no clue what burning sage does. But I've got a feeling I'm going to be hearing a whole lot more about it tonight. That was Swanson's second homer of the season.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) April 27, 2021
In truth, that came Dansby’s 2nd plate appearance of the night… but it was a homer, nonetheless. Full disclosure: he later added another hit… raising his average to .188 for the season.
It was just his third multi-hit game of the year… and 11th game with a hit, period.
But we’ll still take it… 10 hits for the team with 8 runs and 7 walks… there were base-runners galore all night… and that’s a heckuva lot nicer than 2 games on Sunday with 1 hit, 2 walks, and 3 other base-runners… for two entire games.
Atlanta, the burning city
Some of the last few times that a fire famously happened in Atlanta include these events:
- November 12, 1864: General Sherman orders the destruction of the Atlanta business district.
- July 20, 1993: the press box at Atlanta’s Fulton County stadium caught fire. Then the Braves won 11 of their next 13 games and were 51-17 overall after the fire.
- March 30, 2017: I-85 catches fire, collapsing a bridge and making traffic even more fun than usual in the metro area.
So now we can add April 26, 2021: Dansby Swanson sets sage on fire… Braves win.
"“If it works, we’ll do it again. F***, I’ll plant some of it.” — Brian Snitker, as quoted by David O’Brien, et al."
Go figure. Kinda wonder just how much of the stuff he bought, though.
Beats trying to breathe through your eyelids (in a metaphysics manner, of course). So what’s your favorite superstition?