Indians turn to Jobu to help end Yan Gomes' slump
A few weeks ago we told you about Jason Kipnis and Mike Napoli building a clubhouse shrine to Jobu, the voodoo doll who belonged to Pedro Cerrano of the fictional Indians in the movie Major League.
On Saturday, the real-life Indians looked to summon Jobu’s powers — even sacrificing a Target chicken — during a ceremony aimed at ending teammate Yan Gomes’ prolonged slump.
Here’s the ceremony as led by Napoli.
That is truly amazing. The Indians didn’t mail this in at all. They went all in, leading to one of the funniest moments we’ve seen all season.
“We bought a chicken from [Target]. We bought a little blade and we had him chop it in half,” Jason Kipnis said following the ceremony. “We sacrificed a chicken to the baseball gods and Jobu. We gave them gifts and peace offerings. Hopefully, they’ll accept them and turn the tide on our catcher.”
For those who aren’t familiar with the movie, the Cerrano character, which is portrayed by Dennis Haysbert, practices Voodoo and prays to Jobu because his bats are sick and unable to hit curveballs. That background storyline makes for some of the most memorable scenes in the movie, and of course leads to Cerrano finding himself and playing a hero.
The first-place Indians know that no such powers will help Gomes, who entered Saturday hitting a miserable .163/.198/.310 this season. But hopefully the exercise will help take his mind off his struggles. Baseball is all about having fun, after all, and staying loose. That’s one art these Indians have down to a science.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
