Some unlucky bounces for Friday the 13th

This is from today's Baltimore Sun:


February 13, 2009
'Unlucky 13: Sports figures struck by miserable fortune';


By Bill Ordine bill.ordine@baltsun.com
2:54 PM EST, February 13, 2009
Today is, of course, Friday the 13th. And while sports is oft cited as an arena where competitors rise and fall on the basis of merit and hard work, there's no question that luck -- both good and ill -- has a lot to do with results. Hence age-old sports expressions such as, "the bounce of the ball" and "the rub of the green."And so we offer you a collection of 13 instances in which luck -- the black cat, broken mirror, walking-under-a-ladder kind of luck -- has taken a hand in the world of sports, along with those unfortunates who were struck by miserable fortune (in no particular order). We're sure there are many other examples.

1. Bill Buckner - Buckner is an example of how an otherwise solid career can be tainted by just one play. World Series, 1986, Game 6. Buckner, a career .289 hitter, was playing first base for the Red Sox. Boston led the Mets in the Series, 3-2. In Game 6, the Mets tied the game in the bottom of the 10th and won it when Mookie Wilson's ground ball went through Buckner's legs. Naturally, the Mets went on to win Game 7.

2. Mickey Owen - Another fine player who was stung by just one moment in time. Owen, an All-Star catcher, was behind the plate for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1941 World Series. The Dodgers trailed the Yankees, 2-games-to-1 but led in Game 4 by a run in the top of the ninth. With two out, the Yankees' Tommy Henrich struck out but Owen committed a passed ball and Henrich reached first. The Yankees scored four runs to win the game and finished off the Dodgers in Game 5.

3. "Bonehead" Merkle - Before Bill Buckner, even before Mickey Owen, there was the New York Giants' Fred Merkle. Old "Bonehead" Merkle. As a base runner at first base, he failed to touch second on a game-winning hit. The alert Chicago Cubs made the forceout and because fans had swarmed the field, the game was declared a tie. The Giants and Cubs finished the 1908 season in a tie. Chicago won the playoff and Merkle's faux pas lives on.

4. Roberto De Vicenzo - At age 45, De Vicenzo was having one of his greatest tournaments at the 1968 Masters and rallied on the final day to tie Bob Goalby and apparently force a playoff. Just one problem. De Vicenzo's playing partner, Tommy Aaron, mistakenly gave Roberto a 4 instead of a 3 on one hole and when De Vicenzo signed the card, he had to take the higher score. That slip cost De Vincenzo his chance for a Green Jacket.

5. Mary Decker - The American runner was a track superstar in the 1970s and '80s and was poised to win a gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. However, in the 3,000-meter race, Decker got tangled with South African barefoot runner Zola Budd and went crashing to the ground. Decker always claimed that Budd cut her off, albeit unintentionally.

6. Ralph Branca - Again, a case of a solid career overshadowed in an instant. Branca is known as the guy who served up Bobby Thomson's "Shot heard 'round the world" that gave the Giants the 1951 National League pennant. Branca was a career 88-68 and won 21 games in 1947 but he's really known for just one pitch.

7. Joe Pisarcik - New York Giants quarterback Pisarcik was only following orders when he tried to awkwardly hand the ball to Larry Csonka only to see it bounce to the ground and into the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles' Herm Edwards in the "Miracle of the Meadowlands." But it was Pisarcik's name that stuck to the ill-fated play. After that day in 1978, he started just nine more games during his career and won only one of them six years later, as a fill-in playing for the Eagles.

8. Jackie Smith - A great tight end for the St. Louis Cardinals and then the Dallas Cowboys, Smith's 480 career catches were good enough to put him in Canton. But he's best known for the pass he dropped in the Super Bowl in January 1979 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Smith, by then a 38-year-old backup, was wide open in the end zone but failed to haul in Roger Staubach's throw on third down and Dallas settled for a field goal. The Steelers won, 35-31.

9. Steve Bartman - Who doesn't know the story of the star-crossed Cubs fan who helped preserve the Cubbies' futility when he vied with Chicago left fielder Moises Alou for a foul pop in the 2003 playoffs against the Florida Marlins. The Cubs led the series, 3-2, and led the game 3-0 with one out in the eighth. That's when Bartman and Alou had their unhappy meeting as both coveted the ball off Luis Castillo's bat. Alou was unable to make the catch and yelled in Bartman's direction. The Cubs went on to lose the playoff series and the much-maligned Bartman has tried to disappear from public view.

10. Barbaro - Undefeated in six races, the Kentucky Derby winner was the darling of the sports world when he showed up at Pimlico Race Course for the 2006 Preakness. However, just steps out of the starting gate, a horrible misstep shattered Barbaro's right hind leg. Despite valiant efforts to save the colt, he was euthanized the following January.

11. Wally Pipp - The victim of sports' most legendary headache, Pipp is immortalized as the guy Lou Gehrig replaced. There are varying accounts of why Pipp didn't play that day in 1925 but the headache is the most popular reason and gains credibility from Pipp's own quote, "I took the two most expensive aspirin in history."

12. Eric Seidel - A poker player can expect bad luck as a regular occurrence but in Seidel's case, a losing poker hand has been compounded by being shown every time someone views the famous poker movie Rounders. Seidel finished second to Johnny Chan in the 1988 World Series of Poker Main Event and in the picture, star Matt Damon dwells on Chan's victory -- and consequently, Seidel's loss. As a result, despite winning eight poker World Series bracelets himself, Seidel is best known as the sap who was suckered by Chan.

13. Ki-Jana Carter - Athletes have careers ended by injury all the time but Carter gets special mention. The former Penn State running back was the overall No. 1 pick in the 1995 draft. On the third carry of his career in a preseason game, Carter tore his ACL. He stayed in the NFL for 10 years but gained only 1,144 yards.