Los Angeles Dodgers centerfielder James Outman keeps a pet rock (complete with a drawn-on smiley face) in his locker both at home and on the road to help him hit. He's one of many players over the course of baseball history, to adhere to some form of superstition. From the Orioles' Mike Cuellar in the 1970s to the Yankees' Jason Giambi in the early 2000s, baseball and superstition go hand-in-hand.

This week, Jason Turbow, the author of several books on baseball, including The Baseball Codes, explains why superstitions fit baseball's long schedule, Former big league pitcher Mike Bacsik tells us the one restaurant he wouldn't go to on the days he pitched, and we hear from Outman himself about the origin of the rock.