# Corked bats and Pete Rose possibly lame

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corked-bats-and-pete-rose-possibly-lame/183820>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [June 23, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corked-bats-and-pete-rose-possibly-lame/183820 "2003-06-23T17:46:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corked-bats-and-pete-rose-possibly-lame/183820/21 "2003-06-25T07:19:49Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by dantheman \*  
> \*\*Good ol’ Tom Sutton. Whatever became of him?
> 
> Oh yeah. He changed his name to Don and was never heard from again! \*\*

Don, Tom, it’s all the same. 😃

[Here’s](http://students.faulkner.edu/depts/sbs/readings/an1301/baseball.htm) and interesting essay about baseball superstition, written by former ballplayer turned anthropologist.

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**Author:** ![Mayfield\_St.Cloud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@Mayfield\_St.Cloud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mayfield_St.Cloud)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corked-bats-and-pete-rose-possibly-lame/183820/22 "2003-06-25T10:41:34Z")

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Thanks, **Spooje**. Good article. Under “Fetishes”:

> [@](#):
>
> During a 16-game winning streak in 1954, the New York Giants wore the same clothes in each game and refused to let them be cleaned for fear that their good fortune might be washed away with the dirt

Definitely brings to mind the phrase “stinking up the field”. To get back to the original subject, I think that the belief that a corked bat will enhance a batter’s performance falls more under the label of ignorance than superstition. It seems that ballplayers don’t bother to check the available facts, or ignore them if they are pointed out, preferring to believe the “common sense” wisdom handed down by other ballplayers.

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**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corked-bats-and-pete-rose-possibly-lame/183820/23 "2003-06-25T11:01:55Z")

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well, as Kevin Costner said in _Bull Durham_, (paraphrasing) if you think you are being helped by it, then you _are_.

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**Author:** ![mallocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f4b2a3/32.png) [@mallocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mallocks)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corked-bats-and-pete-rose-possibly-lame/183820/24 "2003-06-25T11:33:06Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RickJay \*
> 
> \*\*  
> Vatican Sources Reveal Pope “Probably Catholic”  
> Zoologists Discover Bears Defecate In Wooded Areas  
> MIT Study: Two And Two Equal Four  
> Sun Rises In East For 1,537,416,298,773rd Consecutive Day\*\*

I like those headlines. I think that’s the sorta thing my local newspaper would run 😃

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