Wade Boggs would eat chicken before every game. Turk Wendell, the eccentric relief pitcher, brushed his teeth between innings.
Trey Hondras, first baseman for Chicago’s history-making Little League World Series entrant, has a baseball superstition to top them all, as savvy as it is effective: He talks to girls before the game for good luck.
Put aside all the immediate questions — specific girls he knows or strangers? talk in person or is this a text-message situation? — and just admire the big-league cool exhibited by the 12-year-old from Jackie Robinson West, the first all-black team from Chicago to qualify for Williamsport since 1983.
The ritual is working so far. Chicago went undefeated in the Great Lakes regional tournament, and won its opener 12-2 on Thursday over Lynwood, Wash., via the mercy rule.