Moises Alou's Superstition

The Wall Street Journal recently came out with an article titled, "The 10 Most Bizarre Athlete Superstitions" saying that, "If any group has a reason to be superstitious, it's professional athletes. Since their livelihoods rely on their abilities to consistently replicate physical motions, it's hardly surprising that they often don't want to change anything about their routines once they find success. However, some stars take these rituals beyond their logical extremes. Jumping over the baselines when taking the field in baseball? Pretty standard. Wearing the same cup from high school on through your pro career like Mark McGwire reportedly did? Now we're getting a little more peculiar..."

The article went onto state 10 players who had extremely odd superstitions. Why do I mention it here? On a Mets blog? All for #5 on that list, Moises Alou:

Most baseball players wear batting gloves to absorb some of the shock of making contact with the ball and to improve their grip on the bat. A handful eschew gloves in favor of a barehanded approach, though, most famously outfielder Alou. Alou does have a system for avoiding calluses and hardening his skin: he urinates on his hands throughout the season. New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada also employs this superstition to aid in his gloveless approach at the plate. The trick may be more gross than helpful, though: a 2004 article in Slate questioned the value of this superstition since urine contains urea, a key ingredient in moisturizers that actually soften the skin

...no comment...seriously...no comment...

UPDATE: 12:50 PM

...Okay...one comment, k?.... Alou puts the "P" in superstition...Okay, okay, I'm done....