Baseball is a sport with a long history of superstition, the two often deeply intertwined, as players have engaged in sometimes elaborate routines believed to positively influence their play on the diamond.
Arguably the national pastime’s top practitioner of these ritualistic behaviors was Wade Boggs, a legendary hitter who claimed he needed that undefined edge to be successful.
“There are [278] players in the Hall of Fame and I'm the only one with ‘superstitions’ on his plaque,” the Class of 2005 Hall of Famer said to Jon Paul Morosi in a recent episode of “The Road to Cooperstown” podcast. “So, I think that that's the one thing that carried me over the hump. And I've always said I'd rather be lucky than good. And that was one of the reasons why I had so many superstitions. I wanted luck to be on my side. I never thought I was that good, but I always wanted to be lucky.”
Boggs’ bronze plaque, of course, lists his big league teams -- Red Sox, Yankees and Devil Rays -- and his many achievements, including being a five-time batting champion and a 12-time All-Star. But its last line of text notably reads, “Legendary for his superstitions.”
Famously nicknamed “Chicken Man,” he ate chicken before every game, always ran wind sprints at 7:17 p.m. before all 7:30 p.m. games, and took batting practice at 5:17 p.m. And he drew a Hebrew letter, Chai (meaning “life”), in the batter’s box before each at-bat.
“I think they put me in a frame of mind to where I could block out everything else,” Boggs said. “I grew up in a military family, and I was very disciplined as far as what time to wake up, what time to go to school, what time to eat dinner, and various things like this. So, I sort of had this regimen growing up early. I was always to Little League practice or senior league practice or high school practice at the same time all the time.”
“The Road to Cooperstown,” which airs weekly, focuses on the challenges and obstacles some of the game’s greatest players overcame on their way to achieving baseball’s highest honor. Boggs’ episode is part of the second season of the podcast series, which also includes conversations with Larry Walker, Ted Simmons, Edgar Martinez, Chipper Jones, Randy Johnson, Lee Smith, Fred McGriff and Robin Yount.
Asked by Morosi about the weighty decision to leave the Red Sox to sign with the rival Yankees as a free agent in December 1992, Boggs responded in pinpoint detail.
“The Yankees called and said, ‘We'd like to meet on the Causeway. Mr. Steinbrenner's hotel. Joe Malloy will be there; he's representing the Yankees right now that Mr. Steinbrenner is on suspended leave,’” Boggs recalled. “And so we sit down, have a conversation, and we're talking and Joe Malloy goes, ‘Would three years, $11 million, put you in pinstripes?’ And I sat there and I said, ‘Well, I'm going to have to go out and discuss it with my wife.’
“I ran out to my Porsche, got on my cell phone in my Porsche and I said, ‘Honey, we're going to New York.’ We didn't even discuss it. So, I come back in and I said, ‘I had a conversation with my wife, and I think you got a new player that's going to put pinstripes on. And I would be honored.’
“And there's a gentleman sitting at a table over here reading the newspaper and the newspaper comes down and it's George. And he winks at me. And he was listening to the whole conversation. … George wanted to prove everybody wrong, that I still had something in the tank.”
Later in the podcast, Boggs shared a health update. He had revealed in September 2024 he had prostate cancer; in February ’25, he announced he was cancer free.
“Well, it's a new lease on life,” Boggs said. “And anytime you get a cancer diagnosis it's a gut punch. … When I was diagnosed in August of 2024, you take it head on, and this is how you're going to deal with it. You ask the doctor what we're going to do. What's the game plan? And this is how we're going to beat it.
“And started the radiation for five weeks and five days a week and got done with the radiation in November 2024. I was waiting on my next follow up checkup. February 7th, 2025. And I rang the bell. I was cancer free. And yes, I am a cancer survivor.”
Listen to all of the episodes of "The Road to Cooperstown," a podcast by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and SiriusXM.