The Romero Hop

by aagoodfella on Jul 2, 2009 6:35 AM EDT

At the Canada Day home game Romero pitched a gem. 8 innings with no ER, including 7Ks and 2 pick-offs for 9 pitcher-generated outs. As a fan, it was great day at the park.

After each inning, I noticed an interesting behavioral pattern by Romero. When he was walking off the field, he seemed to do a kind of hop over the white chalk line (3rd base line I think) on his way to the dugout. The first time, I saw him do it, I was thinking that he was just happy about a great inning. But it happened more often. Of course this could also be explained by celebrating a great inning as Romero had 8 that day. But maybe there is more to it.

So, I am wondering if Romero has a superstition about not stepping on the white chalk line or perhaps feels it is good luck to jump over it or something of that nature. Perhaps it can all be explained by random behaviour. Does anyone have any scoop on whether Romero holds any superstitions about white chalk lines or is this something common to all pitchers?

Whether true or not, it certainly worked on July 1.

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Most pitchers won't step on the line

I’ve never really understood it and you are right, some guys make a display of skipping over it. Course I can’t remember who off the top of my this morning. Mark Fidrych, I think, made the same sort of jump over it. Matt Garza is one that does.

by Tom Dakers on Jul 2, 2009 9:30 AM EDT reply actions

ollie perez jumps over it as well.

"Look at me! I'm Tomokazu Ohka of the Montreal Expos!"

by jessef on Jul 2, 2009 9:36 AM EDT up reply actions

by the way

I kind of hoped “The Romero Hop” would be referring to some new kind of dance . . . sounds like it could be fun. You flatten the bill of your ballcap and then you mimic throwing a changeup

"Look at me! I'm Tomokazu Ohka of the Montreal Expos!"

by jessef on Jul 2, 2009 9:38 AM EDT up reply actions

New dance? Or maybe an STD?

Awwwww man, I went down to Cancun and caught the Romero Hop :(

Happiness is a long walk with a putter in your hand.

by craig in calgary on Jul 2, 2009 11:04 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, lots of baseball players won't step on the baselines on their way off the field

Baseball players, generally speaking, are incredibly superstitious. I think a lot of it has to do with how much of baseball performance is dependent on luck and random variation and players don’t have as much control over the outcome of the game as they would like. That and the pace of the game gives you a lot of downtime to play mental games with yourself, haha.

I am extremely non-superstitious so I can’t necessarily identify, but it has been something I have noticed in ballplayers – from the major league level down to teammates of mine and I don’t think it’s going to change anytime soon.

"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman

by hugo on Jul 2, 2009 9:39 AM EDT reply actions

I'm not superstitious either...

but I would generally not step on the line, more on the idea that I didn’t want to rub it off.

by Tom Dakers on Jul 2, 2009 10:00 AM EDT up reply actions

i wonder if that's how the tradition started

i bet the lines would rub really easily on the old-time ballfields, it wouldn’t surprise me if there were rules that you shouldn’t step on the line on the way in and out of the field.

"Look at me! I'm Tomokazu Ohka of the Montreal Expos!"

by jessef on Jul 2, 2009 1:16 PM EDT up reply actions

that sounds very intuitive

by aagoodfella on Jul 2, 2009 6:28 PM EDT up reply actions

It common enough that they actually put it in MLB 09

If your pitcher is going well they will skip over the line when walking to the dugout… well sometimes anyways.

'But I don't want to go among mad people' Alice remarked.
'Oh, you can't help that' said the Cat 'we're all mad here'.

by JohnnyG on Jul 2, 2009 9:59 AM EDT reply actions

that's cool

i have the PSP version, but i’ve never noticed it…
they omit many details in the psp game

by bryfryy on Jul 2, 2009 1:10 PM EDT up reply actions

When I played...

It was usually a superstituiton before the game to not step on the white line, if you did then you would lose…the whole league + at all star games kids had the same thoughts

as to why he does it during the game..must be same concept..dont wanna jinx it

(despite the User iD..im 19..made the acct many moons ago)

by bowling_kid25 on Jul 4, 2009 11:22 PM EDT reply actions