FAYETTEVILLE -- The iconic hog hat has received a rejuvenating new splash for the Arkansas Razorbacks this season.
The hat -- with 84 "WPS" stickers adorning it for each home run hit by the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville this season -- will hold a spot in the Razorbacks' dugout all weekend at the NCAA Fayetteville Regional.
Joining it will be a seemingly endless array of good-luck charms, superstitions and routines that make baseball a lively pastime.
For every turnover chain or golden spiked shoulder pads in college football, there's a hog hat or rally possum on the diamond.
And those are just the tip of the iceberg for baseball teams, who seek good fortune in any form possible. Facial hair, grooming habits, food choices, standing order in the dugout, apparel, pregame rituals: No facet of a ballplayer's life can escape the hunt for good luck.
"I used to be a lot more superstitious than I am now," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "I can honestly say, if we're rolling a little bit, I'm going to listen to the same radio station, drive the same route to work, and I'm probably going to park closely, if I can, in the same parking spot.
"I won't go crazy about it, but yeah ..."
Not everything is a big gesture.
"Oh, I guarantee you ... everyone has something," Arkansas senior Luke Bonfield said. "Some people call it superstitions, some call it routines. It can be both things. At the end of the day, it's something that gets you comfortable."
Eric Cole and Grant Koch had long hair early in the season, sprouting the term "Floma-Hogs," though they've since had haircuts. Senior Carson Shaddy, sophomore Dominic Fletcher and others grew mustaches earlier in the season.
They come and go.
"That was just for fun, not so much superstition," Shaddy said. "The funny thing is, you walk around and you start getting a good 'stache going like I had that one time and then you look in the mirror and you're like, 'Wow, I look like an idiot.'
"Then you go 0 for 4 in someone else's ballpark and you're like, 'Man, I feel so stupid for having this 'stache. I'm going to shave this off.' "
Watch Arkansas left-hander Kacey Murphy before his first start this weekend. He's got a lot going on regarding routines.
For home games, he wears stirrups with thick soccer socks underneath -- a combo that drew jovial jeers from ESPN's Eduardo Perez a few weeks ago, with the analyst describing it as the behavior of a typical lefty pitcher with oddball antics.
"I like the look," Murphy said. "Kind of an old-school look."
Another couple of his routines come from his heart.
He writes "soft" and the date "2-19" on the back of the mound when he pitches.
Feb. 19 is the date his mother, Cynthia, was rushed to the hospital in a diabetic coma on the day Murphy made his first pitching appearance last season. She has recovered.
"That kind of reminds me that I play for more than just the game," Murphy said. "I draw the word 'soft' because coach [Wes] Johnson got up in my grill when I was a sophomore and said a lot of kids from Rogers don't make it here and people think they're soft. So I write that on the mound to prove to myself that I can make it here and I will make it here."
Razorbacks ace Blaine Knight came upon a "thing" last year that now has to be repeated.
"I was getting loose and my trap[ezoid muscle] was really tight," Knight said. "I told coach Johnson and he sent [Matt] Cronin into the dugout to get one of the sticks we have for soft tissue stuff. He came back and rolled out my whole trap for me.
"I went out and did really good that game. I had like eight punchouts, and it was one of my really good games last year. Maybe the LSU game. Ever since then, it's just kind of stuck. We do it every game."
Said Cronin: "It has to be me every time."
Former Razorback outfielder Jake Arledge, who is now a student assistant on the team, had a good luck routine going last year.
"Good example is last year, Jake Arledge wore the same undershirt he's been wearing since high school, so that's a big superstition," Shaddy said.
"Arledge had this really old undershirt last year, and he would wear it every single game and it just looked disgusting, but he would wear it," Cronin said.
Then there's the "goes without saying" kind of routines.
"People have to stand in the same spots in the dugouts and stuff like that," Cronin said.
Some players shun the whole realm of seeking good luck, made famous a generation ago by Wade Boggs' mandatory fried chicken meal before games.
"I don't really have any pregame rituals at all," said freshman Heston Kjerstad, who did pretty well without one by earning SEC Freshman of the Year honors last week. "I try to stay away from the superstitions because as soon as you stop doing one, it'll probably get to your head."
Bonfield had a food thing rolling during a hot stretch once.
"Last year when I was the SEC Player of the Week, I ate chicken parm from Loafin Joe's like every day," Bonfield said.
The Razorbacks also were rewarded a bright, yellow "Hulkamania" T-shirt each week last season by then-assistant Tony Vitello for having the most quality at-bats that week.
Now the hog hat is hot.
Knight has one more superstition that he's held on to for a while.
"About the only thing I have that's superstitious is I have a dollar bill I found my freshman year in high school that was in the state tournament," Knight said. "We were playing Fayetteville and it came a down-pouring rain. Once the rain got done we were getting ready to start playing again, and there was a dollar bill that had floated in from somewhere and it was sitting in a water puddle.
"I picked it up and threw it in my pocket. We ended up winning that year when we weren't supposed to because Fayetteville was such a powerhouse. I kept it with me every year I've pitched from my freshman year all the way up to now, and I've done pretty well."
Bet your bottom dollar that's a routine that will be repeated this weekend.
Sports on 05/30/2018
