Baseballs sit in a bin during batting practice Rhona Wise-USA TODAY Sports

Watch: Campbell baseball has a hilarious pre-game 'bat blessing' ritual

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated 6/6/23

Campbell University has just an all-around awesome sports vibe. They're known as the Fighting Camels. I mean, how can you beat that?

If their awesome nickname isn't enough to strike fear in the heart of their opponents, their "bat blessing" tradition certainly had to put the fear of the supernatural into the opposing dugout.

Campbell’s Blessing of the Bats is my new favorite tradition in college sports pic.twitter.com/qyjlXSoCyQ
— Pregame Empire (@PregameEmpire) June 2, 2023

Baseball is, of course, a sport all about superstitions. Everything from a tweak to the batting stance to the type of seeds a player keeps in their pockets can be dissected ad nauseam. If a hitter is on a "heater," nothing about that player's pre-game routine can change. And if something does happen to change, bad "juju" is without a doubt on the horizon.

Perhaps nothing points to baseball's superstition streak like the "rules" around no-hitters and perfect games. For the uninitiated, it's bad luck to mention the fact that a pitcher has a no-no or perfect game going. If you pay close enough attention, you'll notice that the no-hitter is being mentioned without being mentioned by the broadcast crew. Take a peek in the dugout and you'd see that the pitcher is being absolutely "iced out" by his teammates, but the ignoring of the pitcher is in no way disrespectful—it's all about respecting the superstition.

Campbell's season recently ended in the NCAA Baseball Championship but the Fighting Camels boasted a 46-15 record this season, so their "blessing of the bats" undoubtedly worked.

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