Smudging the Glove

     Everyone knows that baseball players are very superstitious.  Players will wear the same unwashed socks or even underwear in order to gain some metaphysical edge.  Baseball dads can get in on that action as well.  After #18 had some errors and tremulous fielding, he asked if I would condition his glove with the old hot glove treatment. I went one step further and smudged the glove.  According to the internet, smudging is a ritual way to cleanse a person , place or an object of negative energies, spirits or influences. The smudging ceremony involves the burning of special, sacred plants and herbal resins, then, either passing an object through the resulting smoke, or fanning the smoke around a person or place. The spirit of the plant then purifies whatever is being smudged.

     I lit a smudge stick made of home-grown white sage and purified the glove, alongside a Chipper Jones baseball card and a stick of sandalwood incense. Solemnly, I waved the sage around the glove chanting "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" while facing Cooperstown.  It seems to have worked. The glove is soft and supple. There have been no errors since.