General

Baseball Players Haunted by Ghosts. Yeah, Again

Jul 11, 2009, 6:56 PM UTC

Recall, if you will, the preposterous ghost stories told by members of the Florida Marlins earlier this spring when they told the Palm Beach Post that they refused to sleep alone in Milwaukee’s Pfister Hotel. This is despite the fact that A: Ghosts don’t exist and B: See A.
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â†µFor some reason, the fear is back at Milwaukee’s regal old hotel, long a destination for ballplayers and celebrities. Carlos Gomez’s “haunting,” while not quite as dramatic as Drag Me To Hell, is nonetheless granted mythic importance and heft:â†µâ†µâ‡¥First Carlos Gomez heard voices. Then he watched his iPod go haywireâ†µâ‡¥after he got out of the shower, sending him scrambling for the lobbyâ†µâ‡¥without stopping to put on his pants and shoes.â†µâ‡¥
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â†µâ‡¥After last year’sâ†µâ‡¥experience, the Minnesota Twins outfielder didn’t want to go back toâ†µâ‡¥Milwaukee’s Pfister Hotel. But Gomez had to stay there when the Twinsâ†µâ‡¥were in town to play the Brewers last month, so he brought someâ†µâ‡¥protection: teammate-turned-roommate Francisco Liriano and a Bible.â†µâ‡¥
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â†µâ‡¥“Everything’sâ†µâ‡¥scary,” Gomez said. “Everything in the hotel, the paintings andâ†µâ‡¥pictures, it’s a lot of old, crazy stuff. No good, man. No good.”â†µâ†µThe legion of ballplayers who report problems in the old hotel has now grown to players from at least five different teams. Again, this is puzzling, because ghosts don’t exist at all.â†µ
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â†µAnd really, the worst “hauntings” we’re hearing about are, like, noises, open windows, and an iPod that wouldn’t turn off. Um, OK. Is that any reason to be scared? It would be one thing if the Marlins had stayed at the hotel, then Anibal Sanchez had to hit the DL because hellgoblins had chewed his eyes out of their sockets and he was impregnated with alien seed, but that’s not happening (thankfully; what a mess that’d be).
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â†µIf anything, this is all testament to the powers of suggestion by movies and stories. Either that, or someone at the Pfister has a devious sense of humor and likes to open people’s windows. Anything to get people talking about your hotel, right?â†µ