Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca holding his lucky black cat in the dugout on Friday the 13th, before beating the Yankees 7-6. Ebbets Field, April 13, 1951. [1688×1356]
Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca holding his lucky black cat in the dugout on Friday the 13th, before beating the Yankees 7-6. Ebbets Field, April 13, 1951. [1688×1356]
In 1927, when the team was still called the Robins and had won just 2 of their first 14 games, a stranger showed up at manager Wilbert Robinson’s apartment holding a black kitten.
“It takes a jinx to lick a jinx,” the man said.
The team christened the cat by pouring milk over him, named him Victory, and won their next four games.
Twenty-four years later, Branca grabbed another black cat before facing the Yankees. Brooklyn won 7-6.
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This wasn’t Brooklyn’s first black cat.
In 1927, when the team was still called the Robins and had won just 2 of their first 14 games, a stranger showed up at manager Wilbert Robinson’s apartment holding a black kitten.
“It takes a jinx to lick a jinx,” the man said.
The team christened the cat by pouring milk over him, named him Victory, and won their next four games.
Twenty-four years later, Branca grabbed another black cat before facing the Yankees. Brooklyn won 7-6.
Sources: Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1927), Brooklyn Public Library Digital Collections (1951), and [https://www.catsabouttowntours.com/stories/black-cats-brooklyn-baseball-1927-1951](https://www.catsabouttowntours.com/stories/black-cats-brooklyn-baseball-1927-1951)