Baseball players are known for their superstitions and in some cases more than just players harbor idiosyncrasies.

If the St. Louis Cardinals fail to make the playoffs this year the reason became clear last week. Contrary to what some people think, if the Cards miss the playoffs by one game or less it won't be because of starting pitching and not having Chris Carpenter or Mark Mulder in the starting rotation all year. It won't be because the bullpen failed to hold more than a few leads once they were called to action. It won't be because the offense failed to get a timely hit or the coach's son who should be working on his swing in the minor league struck out too many times. It won't even be because of manager Tony LaRussa's quirky lineup that has the pitcher batting in the eighth position instead of the traditional ninth spot.

Nope, if the Cards miss the playoffs it will be because on Tuesday evening of last week they lost to the New York Mets. One game. The loss was Vicky Wilcoxson's fault and it will therefore be her fault if they miss the playoffs because of that loss.

It's not me that is making that assertion; it's her husband, Daryl. Here's why Daryl said what he did.

Everyone knows, well, I guess everyone except Vicky, that the Cards have certain hats for certain days of the week and even home or away games. Daryl went to see the Cards play the Mets last Tuesday evening. He left from the store and didn't have time to go home and change. He asked Vicky to send a Cardinals shirt and hat to the store for him to change into.

She did, a nice pretty shirt and the Sunday cap. Daryl knew things were doomed for the home team. I suppose you could make a case Daryl could have bought another cap once he got to the stadium, but that's just letting the facts get in the way of a good story.

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Call him 'Ace'

Donnie Burke joined the Hole-in-One club last Sunday afternoon. Stepping up on the tee box at the eighth hole of the local course Donnie pulled out his eight-iron and smacked it mightily toward the green some 155 yards away. And while most golfers will tell you their intent is to ace the hole every time they play others of us have more, um, reasonable expectations.

Donnie is one of those that just knows his ball is going in the hole every time he hits it.

When his ball landed on the green it started rolling, turning slightly to the right and disappeared. Everyone let out a little cheer. Everyone except Donnie, that is.

See there's a tradition that's been around a long time. That tradition calls for the newly crowned "Ace" to share his joy with the rest of the fellows at the club by purchasing a round of liquid refreshment, usually sodas.

There were 13 other guys playing that day in Donnie's group spread out across the course. At the least he would be buying them all a round of sodas and of course his good friend, Neal Gibbons who just happened to be off in Hot-lanta getting a grandbaby fix.

Donnie, who has been known to throw nickels around like they're manhole covers, thought about his dilemma for several minutes. He then turned to the three guys in his group and said, "Okay, but you gotta let me tell the other guys."

That was agreed to because it just seems proper that a guy should announce his own prowess on the course. When his partners all agreed to let him tell the group Donnie grinned and said, "Okay, I'm gonna call them all tonight when they get home and tell them."

At that point Donnie promptly lost his right. He did share with everyone in case you're a friend of Donnie's, want to be a friend of Donnie's or maybe you're just thirsty, I think the tab at Captain Tony's is still open until Neal gets back in town.

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Cracked

Last week we had a picture of Robert and Shirley Raines, my son's favorite fifth grade teacher, in the newspaper showing them in front of the Liberty Bell with a copy of the DDD in hand.

Looking at the photo I couldn't help but wonder if Robert was thinking about ringing that bell one more time. Just one time. Give it a good whack and let the bell sound out one more time. I'll bet he did

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Just wondering

I received an email from a fellow last week pondering several points. He was wondering where the Hollywood celebrities were with their telethons for the victims of flooding in Iowa and Missouri are in this time of need. He was also curious as to where the media happen to be right now.

And he was also curious as to when those flood victims would be transported to hotels in Chicago and St. Louis, or even Des Moines.

I think there's an answer for him.

I think those folks, mostly rural people, probably told all those types to leave them alone. They know how to take care of themselves and don't expect the government to do everything for them.

For the most part I think they're praying to their God for patience, His help and their friends and families going through the same things. They're probably keeping a gun by their sides in case someone was dumb enough to even think about looting. They're not making plans to go anywhere and are just waiting for the water to go down so they can start rebuilding their lives. If the government wants to help it will be welcome so long as it doesn't get in the way.

Bud Hunt is the publisher of the Daily Dunklin Democrat.