Fansided

The biggest superstition or ritual for each MLB team

By Brad Weiss

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 9: CC Sabathia #52 of the New York Yankees delivers the first pitch in the first inning during Game 4 of the ALDS against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, October 9, 2018, in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 9: CC Sabathia #52 of the New York Yankees delivers the first pitch in the first inning during Game 4 of the ALDS against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, October 9, 2018, in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /
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Professional animal trainer from Animal Actors of Hollywood Nerissa Politzer(cq), 30 of Granda Hills instructs “Katie” , a 7 year?old Capuchin monkey, on keeping her hands up for the camera. Angel fans have gone nuts for the rally monkey, which at first was just a shot on the scoreboard of a monkey jumping up and down from a Ace Ventura movie. Now Disney, who owns the Angels decided to film its own monkey. (Photo by Geraldine Wilkins/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Professional animal trainer from Animal Actors of Hollywood Nerissa Politzer(cq), 30 of Granda Hills instructs “Katie” , a 7 year?old Capuchin monkey, on keeping her hands up for the camera. Angel fans have gone nuts for the rally monkey, which at first was just a shot on the scoreboard of a monkey jumping up and down from a Ace Ventura movie. Now Disney, who owns the Angels decided to film its own monkey. (Photo by Geraldine Wilkins/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) /

Los Angeles Angels: The Rally Monkey

The Los Angeles Angels have one of the more pet-friendly rituals in all of Major League Baseball, and it all started during a regular-season game back in June 2000. Trailing the San Francisco Giants by one run at home, the Angels showed a clip of the movie Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, featuring a scene with a monkey jumping around.

Underneath the monkey, the words “Rally Monkey” were superimposed, and so started the legend of the Rally Monkey for the Los Angeles Angels. Since then, the Rally Monkey has been the good-luck charm for the Angels, as they hired the monkey that played Marcel in the sitcom Friends to film scenes.

During the 2002 World Series, the Rally Monkey became a national phenomenon, as fans believe he was the source of the team’s improbable comeback against the Giants. Trailing the series 3-2, and down by five runs in the seventh inning of Game 6, the Angels fed off the Rally Monkey, scoring six unanswered runs and forcing a Game 7.

Los Angeles would end up winning that Game 7 against the Giants, forever immortalizing the Rally Monkey in Angels history. The Rally Monkey became a pop icon, and while it is not as popular as it once was, this is by far the funniest superstition in the history of the Angels franchise.

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