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- David Price's strong performance in Game 2 of the World Series helped the Boston Red Sox take a 2-0 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
- It was the third straight win for the Red Sox in games started by Price after his teams had gone winless in his first 10 career postseason starts.
- In Price's last three postseason starts, he made a change to his cap and one of the more bizarre baseball superstitions - the removal of his "squatchee."
- Most reasonable people know that the squatchee is not why Price is pitching well or why the Red Sox are winning, but what is important is that Price seems to believe that the squatchee is making a difference.
David Price changed one of the most bizarre superstitions in a sport filled with them, and it seems to be working just when the Boston Red Sox needed him most.
Price pitched six solid innings in Game 2 of the World Series to help the Boston Red Sox take a 2-0 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers. What most fans didn't notice is that Price made a subtle change to his uniform involving a part of his cap called the "squatchee."
As documented several times by Paul Lukas at Uni-Watch.com, Price typically removes the button from the top of his cap. It is a bizarre quirk that may have formerly served a purpose (see below), but it appears that it is now a superstition for him.
Before the ALCS, Price's teams were 0-10 in the postseason in games he had started. That included Game 2 of the ALDS this season against the New York Yankees in which he was knocked out in the second inning. In that game, as in most of his career starts before, he did not have the squatchee on his cap.
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David Price in Game 2 of the ALDS.
Now check out Price's cap in each of his last three postseason starts, including Game 2 of the World Series.
What do these games all have in common besides the presence of the squatchee? The Red Sox are 3-0 in those games.
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David Price, from left to right, in: 1) Game 2 of the ALCS; Game 5 of the ALCS; 3) Game 2 of the World Series.
Lukas noted that the term "squatchee" appears to have originated from a popular line of books from the 1980s, called "Sniglets," by comedian Rich Hall, in which he attempted to give names to everyday objects and situations that did not already have names. He referred to the button as a "squatcho," and it appears that the name has evolved.
Despite the name, Price has referred to the piece as "the ouch button," which suggests that his decision to remove was not originally a superstition. Lukas interviewed the former player and current broadcaster Mike Krukow, who has used the term "squatcho" and explained why a player might want to remove it.
"If you're sitting in the dugout, your initial reaction when someone hits a long ball or makes a great play is to stand up," Krukow told Lukas. "And if you're tall, at some of the older ballparks, like Wrigley Field, you'll hit your head on the top of that god-danged dugout. And if you've got that button there, see ya later. So for someone like David Price, who's what, 6'6″? Yeah, I can see why he'd be pulling his squatcho."
While we could not find a good view of Price's caps from all of his regular season starts this season, we could not find any with the squatchee.
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David Price versus the Tampa Bay Rays in April (left) and in September versus the Toronto Blue Jays.
There are a few games over the years in which Price has left the button on his cap. However, the removal of the squatchee is far more common and goes all the way back to at least 2010, including his time with the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays.
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David Price with the Detroit Tigers in 2015 (left), the Tampa Bay Rays in 2014 (center), and Rays in 2010 (right).
However, when Price first came up with the Rays and pitched well in the 2008 postseason as a reliever, he had the squatchee on his cap.
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David Price during the 2008 World Series.
Most reasonable people know that the squatchee is not why Price is pitching well or why the Red Sox are winning. But what is important is that Price seems to believe that the squatchee is making a difference, and if he thinks it, that is all that matters.
As the fictional character Crash Davis said in "Bull Durham," "If you believe you're playing well because ... you wear women's underwear, then you are!"