Even Fans Have Good-Luck Rituals

Some baseball fans are very superstitious -- and so it is with Rangers fans at the start of the 2011 World Series.

Fans who worry about spoiling Rangers karma are reluctant to patronize anything connected with St. Louis.

The Cardinals were formerly owned by members of the Busch family and are directly connected with Anheuser-Busch InBev. The team plays in what is still called Busch Stadium.

Bud Light was Dallas fan Brian Hale’s beer of choice before the World Series. But he's switched to Shiner Bock.

"Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light -- I love it. But it's St. Louis beer," he said. "Baseball is so superstitious. You've got to stick with what's Texas. Anything helps."

Anna Hernandez, of Dallas, has several Rangers hats and shirts but she has decided not to wear them until just minutes before game time.

"Whenever I wear team jerseys or T-shirts all day long, they seem to lose, or the game is too close," she said.

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During this postseason, her new ritual produced a remarkable change, she said.

"They win. Nelson Cruz hits home runs," she said.

North Texas connections to St. Louis go beyond beer.

Adolphus Busch built the Adolphus Hotel in Downtown Dallas on Commerce Street 100 years ago when he first started importing his St. Louis beer to Texas.

The historical plaque at the hotel entrance says it was designed by a St. Louis architect.

"He would come to Dallas often, and he really had no place that he felt was decent for him to stay," said Chris Weydig, assistant hotel manager.

The hotel has hosted celebrities through the years and continues to be one of the finest in Dallas.

"This hotel has been very, very important to the city, and if it was not for Adolphus Busch choosing to build it here, the history of the city might have been different," Weydig said.

He said the Adolphus has no connection to the St. Louis Cardinals but will be polite to any Cardinals fans visiting North Texas for the World Series.

"Of course, myself and the rest of the staff here -- we're definitely Rangers fans," Weydig said.

But Hale said he is still reluctant.

"I'd stick the Cardinals in there, but I would absolutely not stay there," he said.

A spokesman for North Texas Anheuser-Busch distributor Ben E. Keith said the firm also has no bias for the St. Louis Cardinals and would proudly provide Budweiser products at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington for the World Series games.

"We're very happy for the Rangers," said James Hallam, vice president for marketing.

But Hale said he hopes his new beer choice serves winning karma for the Rangers.

"If the Rangers win the World Series, I may just have to swear off Budweiser products forever and just stick with Shiner," he said.

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