Eddie Grant, swinging from the heels in the pre-hex days
By A.J. Hayes
When compared to other noted sports hexes – notably, the Chicago’s “Billy Goat Jinx” and Boston’s now squelched “Curse of the Bambino” – the San Francisco-directed “Plague of the Plaque” falls short of the fences in terms of romantic heft.
The mysterious malediction is not centered around a larger-than-life superstar who was peddled to a rival club to help finance a Broadway play, nor does it have anything to do with a rogue farm animal that was ejected from Wrigley Field during the 1945 World Series for behaving and smelling like an, er, rogue farm animal.
No, the protagonist in this whammy was a gaunt infielder turned World War I hero named Eddie Grant, who only managed to hit his weight in 10 big league seasons because he was so darned skinny.
But if you’re inclined to believe in the sporting spirits, or you think “Field of Dreams” was a pseudo-documentary, you just might buy into the “Plague of the Plaque,” AKA “Eddie’s Affliction.”