George Gmelch Baseball Magic Summary

Magic, in its core sense referring to rituals, taboos, and fetishes, is found in practically every aspect of society worldwide. George Gmelch spent significant time gathering data on the supernatural rituals on the Trobriand Islands of Melanesia through participant observation, later tying it to “Baseball Magic”. In his article, Gmelch successfully argues that much like Trobriand Islanders, baseball players also turn to supernatural forces to guide them to success, giving power to rituals in order to feel in control of the uncertain. Through strong factual data that supports his claims, Gmelch effectively demonstrates a holistic connection between magic and superstitions and the widespread rituals that vary among societies, allowing his audience to build an in depth understanding of the incorporated concepts.

In his ethnography tied to human rituals and beliefs, Gmelch aims to demonstrate the presence of magic and rituals in the least expected norms of society.

Through the use of various factual evidence from several longitudinal studies, Gmelch brings forth the presence of superstition in the long history of America’s favorite baseball players. In addition to factual evidence about quirky habits that sufficed into rituals for professional players, Gmelch incorporates a psychological point of view. Supporting his claims through psychology’s explanations for the supernatural magic believed to bring luck to players, Gmelch ties Skinner’s classical conditioning approach to the concept. It becomes clear to the audience that through an evolutionary approach, as humans we tend to repeat actions that bring us success, allowing for a fair interpretation of the ties to science. Evidently, this can be observed in not only the habits that are believed to bring baseball players luck, but also the success that they bring to Trobriand Islanders when fishing in the open

sea.

While Gmelch successfully completes his aim in establishing the connection between “magic” and all commons of societies, he concentrates more on providing evidence of known baseball rituals. This leaves room for lack of a deeper understanding of the Trobriand Islanders, which would essentially allow for a stronger connection in regards to identifying the presence of superstition spread across the corners of the world. However, Gmelch effectively builds his connection through much factual evidence from different views and perspectives, allowing our minds to dig deeper into why humans form rituals the way we do. In accordance to Rebecca Stein, often “our brain creates realities that are indistinguishable from ‘reality’” (Stein 2017). Gmelch’s article allows for us to individually decipher where these rituals fall in our reality. It is easy to identify the absence in correlation from an outsider’s point of view, but much like the actions we repeat when we achieve success, rituals suffice when they produce the desired results.