This Post Is Not For The Paraskevidekatriaphobic

Paraskevidekatriaphobia - The fear of Friday The 13th 

Growing up, the idea that a day, any day, was predestined as unlucky always struck me as, well, stupid. Now that I'm older and wiser, I still don't put much faith in superstitions or numerology or anything like that, but if you do then it's not my place to judge. No one really gets to choose what fears they have.

Personally, I have nothing against days like today. My firstborn was actually born on a Friday the 13th, and has actually embraced the number as her favorite. My father-in-law and best friend's dad also were born on these days.

Even now, as you are reading this, I am in Western New York for my brother's wedding. Yep, my brother and his bride-to-be specifically chose a Friday the 13th in October for their nuptials! So yeah, lots of reasons personally to celebrate Friday the 13th, not fear it.

That celebrating extends to baseball as well! Did you know that three Hall of Fame members were born on October 13th, and two of them were in fact born on a Friday! The baseball world was lucky to have these three guys:

 

Rube Waddell (1876)

1994 Upper Deck Baseball:
The American Epic #13 Rube Waddell

Wadell was born on a Friday the 13th, and died on April Fool's Day. In the short 37 years of his life, he was one of the most dominating pitchers of his era, but was also one of the all-time great characters the baseball world had ever seen. 

 

From Wikipedia:

He was notably unpredictable; early in his career, he once left in the middle of a game to go fishing.^[2] He also had a longstanding fascination with fire trucks and ran off the field to chase after them during games on multiple occasions.^[3] He would disappear for months at a time during the offseason, and it was not known where he went until it was discovered that he was wrestling alligators in a circus.^[4] He was easily distracted by opposing fans who held up puppies, which caused him to run over to play with them, and shiny objects, which seemed to put him in a trance.^[5]

His exploits on and off the field would make an interesting movie!

 

Eddie Mathews (1931)

2019 Stadium Club
#90 Eddie Mathews

Mathews was born on a Tuesday, but that didn't stop him from terrorizing opposing pitchers over the course of his 17 year career. When he retired after the 1968 season, he was 6th on the all-time home run list with 512. Sports Illustrated was lucky enough to have Mathews on the cover of their very first issue.

Trevor Hoffman (1967)

2008 Upper Deck
#400 Trevor Hoffman (SH)

 

Isn't it fitting that this Hall of Fame closer born on Friday the 13th would use AC/DC's "Hells Bells" as his entrance song? Hoffman helped redefine the modern closer, becoming the first ever to top both the 500 and 600 save mark.

A happy birthday to these 3 "lucky" guys!