Baseball is a sport with a long history of superstition...from Boston's famous Curse of the Bambino to players not washing their uniforms - or in some cases, themselves - after victories. While success usually breeds long-standing superstitions, repeated failure usually breeds new superstitions that only exist until a new one is created.
Albert Pujols recent struggles have been well-documented over the past 3 weeks...and it seems these demons are being battled with his facial hair superstitions. The last three years have been banner years for AP5, and in doing so, he's stuck with the standard goatee throughout his reign - with an occasional trim here and there. But not much changed. That's not the case this year, as we've seen a multitude of Pujols facial hair trends already.
April 3rd, 2007: Standard Pujols Thin Goatee
April 10th, 2007: Pujols Sans Facial Hair
April 15th, 2007: Back to Goatee
April 19th, 2005: Well-Groomed Full Beard
As mentioned before, a superstition usually only lasts as long as a success-streak. Let's hope for Cardinal fans that Albert finds a facial hair trend that will stick.
I bring this up only as a poor excuse to show Albert's high school yearbook picture - that features yet another Pujols facial hair choice. Yowza.
