"Don’t Step on the Foul Line" : Baseball and the (Ir)rationality of Superstition in Sports

Abstract

In this paper, I examine the phenomenon of superstition in the game of baseball. I argue that superstitions may occupy various places on the spectrum of epistemic irrationality, depending on the etiology of the superstitious belief in question. I begin by examining the general psychology of superstition. I then discuss some of the conceptual difficulties in making sense of such behavior, and I put forward some possible solutions to these difficulties. I further argue that, in addition to non-intentionally acquired superstitions, there also appear to be genuine cases of superstition, in which the agent may be said to be actively engaged – i.e., that in some cases, an agent may intentionally employ his awareness of his own rational epistemic standards to allow himself to believe irrationally.