PROVO -- Baseball, at times, is a game of superstitions.
Players stick with what's working, whether it's dirty pair of socks or a week without showering.
So, what's behind BYU baseball's best start in 22 years?
The Cougars are off to a 23-8-1 (10-2, Mountain West Conference) and head coach Vance Law says that this is one of the best hitting teams he has ever coached. New pitchers have opposing hitters puzzled. And then there are the intangibles like the power of the coin.
The coin is one of the many things BYU pitching coach Bobby Applegate has brought with him from the Air Force Academy to get the most out of his players. Last fall, the BYU baseball players took a long run to the white "Y" on a nearby mountain overlooking BYU campus. All of the participants were given a specially minted coin for their efforts.
The coin reminds each player of the commitments they have made to the team and the accomplishment of running up the mountain. The coin has inscribed on one side "The Road to the Top" and "We Go as a Team." Law said the team is really focusing team chemistry this season.
"It sounds kind of corny," Law said of using the do-it-for-the team cliches. "But we rely on each other. We ran up to the 'Y' together and it was a total team effort, guys didn't leave each other behind, we ran together."
The various military institutions have similar programs. In the military each soldier has the opportunity to earn a specially minted coin. The coins are issued by a company's commanding officer and are a very big honor. Each individual coin is minted originally for a given unit. Also, each individual military operation--such as Operation Iraqi Freedom, for example--has its own coin created for the soldiers that participated.
The soldiers are required to always keep their coin with them. As encouragement, the military has developed an incentive. At any time one soldier can pull his coin on a fellow soldier. If his counterpart does not have his coin at the time the other pulls it, the counterpart has to buy a drink that night. However, if the counterpart can show the coin, he gets the free drink.
BYU has developed a similar system. If a player or coach pulls the coin on his teammate (or coach) and the teammate doesn't have the coin, the teammate must buy a drink for all of his teammates that have theirs.
The coin is just smaller than the size of the handle end of a baseball bat.
It's a BYU twist to a military tradition. It is a fun way to promote team unity. And for the superstitious player or fan, it can only help the Cougars continue to win.