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The thing about superstitions, especially in the sports realm, is that no matter how dumb they appear to be, every one has their own. It doesn’t matter if you’re a fan, sitting on a couch with a jersey that hasn’t been washed in months, or if you’re a baseball manager, rubbing lineup cards on pictures of other World Series winning managers.
On Tuesday night, Joe Maddon will be featured on HBO’s “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel,” that includes the Chicago Cubs’ manager discussing how he cried at his father’s grave site in December. That tidbit was in David Haugh’s column in the Chicago Tribune. Yet, Haugh provided another great piece of information that will air on HBO during Maddon’s profile.
This is what Maddon did after the Cubs went down 3-1 in the World Series against the Cleveland Indians.
Maddon also showed host Bryant Gumbel how he rubbed his lineup card before Games 5, 6 and 7 on pictures of Dick Howser, Chuck Tanner and Earl Weaver — the three other managers who overcame a 3-1 deficit to win a World Series.
And well obviously that was the reason the Cubs stormed back and beat the Indians three times in a row to win the World Series.
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Earl Weaver was the manager for the 1970 Baltimore Orioles, who won the World Series, but they won the series 4-1. Maybe Maddon forgot about that part. Dick Howser was the manager on the 1985 Kansas City Royals team that did overcome a 3-1 deficit and beat the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series. Chuck Tanner was the manager of the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, who came back from down 3-1 against Baltimore to win.
Anyway, hopefully Maddon doesn’t have to do this again in 2017, and the Cubs are up the entire time. However, it’s worked once, so he’s gotta do it again if the Cubs are down 3-1 in the World Series and the question comes up, would he then rub the lineup card on a picture of himself too?
The 2016 Cubs became the sixth team in MLB history to come back from down 3-1 to win the World Series. The 1925 Pirates, 1958 New York Yankees, 1968 Detroit Tigers along with the 1979 Pirates and 1985 Royals all did it before.
The “Real Sports” episode with Maddon will air tonight at 10 ET. Besides the superstition, this was another gem HBO released.
Joe Maddon is the fucking best. #Cubs pic.twitter.com/NkrV72p9kX
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) February 20, 2017
Here are more clips from HBO.
