If Ken Griffey Jr. believed something was helping him perform at the top of his game, none of us should be silly enough to argue.
Griffey hit 630 home runs in his illustrious Major League Baseball career, spread across 22 seasons with the Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds, and Chicago White Sox. He was a no-doubt first-ballot Hall of Famer, ranking seventh all-time in home runs, 17th in RBIs, and 53rd in hits.
Baseball players are notoriously superstitious, and Griffey recently revealed that he had such a strong one that it created a fairly unbelievable midgame story.
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"I don't touch anybody's equipment unless I ask them," Griffey told Baseball Now as part of Budweiser’s 150th anniversary celebration ahead of Opening Day.Like if somebody says, hey, go get my can you bring my glove? I don't put my hand in people's gloves, I don't use their bats... Nah."
What would happen if someone touched Griffey's glove, you ask? We'll let him tell the unbelievable tale.
"We had a kid grab my glove, stick his hand in it, and think it was funny in between innings," Griffey said. "And I literally ran back to the dugout to get a brand new glove, and I'm pulling off the wrapper of a brand new glove while I'm running to the outfield because I don't like people (touching it).
The only person you could put their hands in my glove, there's two. There's my dad, who broke in all my gloves mainly, and Trey, because he was, you know, he was my kid. And I had to learn that. But I am very superstitious about touching other people's stuff."
Griffey's two sons, Trey and Tevin, went on to play college football. One has to wonder how they felt about other players touching their helmets or receiving gloves.
Griffey spoke with Baseball Now as part of Budweiser's 150th anniversary, for which they announced the Bud 150 Club as well as MLB team cans with vintage-inspired designs. Bud 150 Club benefits include a pre-loaded Mastercard stocked with beer money as well as a chance to score tickets to MLB's biggest events, such as the All-Star Game, MLB Field of Dreams, and the World Series. Legends Randy Johnson and Mike Piazza also joined the Budweiser campaign as new player partners.