Shart Demons

The other night Tim Wakefield won his 182nd game. That puts him in a tie for 153rd all-time on the wins list. Wakefield is tied with Ed Reulbach and Allie Reynolds.

Something on Allie Reynolds' Wikipedia page struck my fancy:

At the age of sixteen Reynolds achieved a degree of regional notoriety when he and fellow high school teammate Odassus McCutcheon began a local tradition of burning household furniture to ward off what local Creek Indians referred to as "shart demons". Reynolds would later incorporate the ritual into his pre-game mound preparations.

Shart demons? That's too funny.

Too bad Allie Reynolds didn't pass on the secrets of warding off shart demons to George Brett. It sounds like he gets attacked by shart demons at least a couple of times a year.