Peyton Parker
During the varsity game against Lincoln East on April 4, junior Carson Herrmann holds up "The Monkey" in the dugout. The Griffins gave the Titans their first loss of the season, beating them 2-1.
Superstitions are a staple for many coaches and players throughout baseball. Whether it’s rubbing the side of their hats before a pitch, inverting their caps, or even stacking cups together, athletes have been known to try almost anything to spark a lucky streak for a rally. The Griffins are no different; however, their source of luck is uncommon: a blue Los Angeles Dodgers monkey.
“The monkey helps a ton by getting everyone in the dugout to be a part of something,” third basemen, junior Kasen Brown said. “The monkey really adds that culture and bond with all of our brothers. We really just enjoy being together, and I think that’s why the monkey is so special.”
Players have received the monkey every time they’ve scored a run, and sported it like a “trophy” to keep the team going. When this happened, the entire team met the runner at the plate and crowned them with the monkey.
While the “The Monkey,” as the boys refer to it, made its debut during districts last season, and they continued the tradition this year, after the team’s 1-score loss to Bellevue West on April 7, the stuffed animal went missing. As a result, it did not make an appearance in yesterday’s game against Lincoln Southeast, nor in today’s game against Omaha Burke. It has since been found.
“Someone that is not on the team put it in the wrong locker room, and we couldn’t find it,” catcher, senior Easton Leahy said. “It [the locker room it was in] says baseball, but our stuff is in the soccer and track room.”
Now that “The Monkey” has been found, when it will make its return to the field is still unknown.
“Keep an eye out as it might make a return at some point,” pitcher, senior Trevor Cox said.
As for the origin of the team’s “good-luck charm,” it was Brown’s idea. While he was out for the season, he wanted a way to continue to show his support of the team.
“After seeing all of these other teams have a celebration after they scored, I thought to myself, ‘Why don’t we have that spark that lights us up and gets us hyped up?’” Brown said.
Amid the current season, rallies and a bit of luck have been necessary to keep the team’s hopes alive, so the superstition of “The Monkey” has lived on.
“It was a momentum builder,” Cox said. “That now gives us confidence, and it allows the team to know we can beat anyone in the state.”
Now, with the season in full swing and a record of 7-5 after today’s 10-4 win against Omaha Burke [4-10] in the Papio High School Baseball Tournament, the luck and confidence that “The Monkey” has brought the boys in the past will be needed. The boys have an uphill battle ahead of them to reach their goal of making the State Tournament for the second consecutive year as starting April 21, they will face off against some of the top teams in Class B: Norris [11-2], Skutt [11-2] and Hastings [6-3].
“We play our game,” Renshaw said. “Throw strikes, don’t give anybody free bases, put the ball in play, and good things happen. It’s very cliche, and it sounds like a coach, but it truly is when we’ve seen that in our last few games.”
While the team may credit “The Monkey” for luck, that’s not the full picture of what the stuffed animal represents at the end of the day.
“The truth is, it’s not ‘The Monkey’ that really gets us all hype and gets our team chemistry good,” Brown said. “It’s the culture of Gretna East baseball, and the coaches do a great job of making sure we all are one team and that we’re all brothers here in this team. Sure, ‘The Monkey’ will always be a great tradition of the Griffs, but without the chemistry we all have together, the monkey would truly not work the way it does now.”