Red Sox fans are familiar with curses — or at least the notion that one may have once existed. But the Atlanta Braves might currently have a situation on their hands.
With the release of infielder Julio Lugo on Friday, the 36-year-old becomes the latest casualty of a seemingly cursed locker in the Atlanta clubhouse.
For years, any player who has sat in the locker next to where Greg Maddux used to sit has been gone by the following year, starting with Jeff Blauser when Turner Field opened in 1997, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
This season, four Braves have reportedly used locker, only to then find themselves shipped out of Atlanta in some way.
Joe Mather was released, Cristhian Martinez was demoted and Jordan Schafer was traded to the Astros before Lugo, who had been occupying the locker, was released.
Bret Boone, Robert Fick, Wally Joyner, Ken Caminiti, Albie Lopez, Damian Moss, Chris Seelbach and Joe Nelson are reportedly among the other players to use the locker in recent years before making a quick exit from the organization.
Kenshin Kawakami is the only player to last longer than one year, although he's now down at Double-A Mississippi, where he has a 2-4 record to go with a 8.10 ERA in 15 games (6 starts) this season.
Maddux left the Braves following the 2003 season and signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs, another organization that knows a thing or two about hexes.
The most alarming aspect of the apparent curse, though, is that the Braves have yet to win a World Series title since it supposedly originated. Atlanta's last World Series victory came in 1995, when they defeated the Cleveland Indians in six games.
