Early in the 1911 baseball season, while the New York Giants were playing in St. Louis, a slender young man, dressed in his best suit, came to see manager John McGraw. His name was Charles V. Faust. He said that his middle initial stood for “Victory” and that a fortuneteller told him the Giants would win the pennant if Faust was on the team.
McGraw, like all old-time ballplayers, was superstitious. He handed Faust a glove and told him to go out on the mound and pitch a few balls to him. Faust, still in his suit, went into the weirdest windup anyone had ever seen. His arms went in circles, over his head, down across his body. His pitch had no speed at all.
McGraw called for a curve. He got a half-speed pitch that was as straight as a string. He called for a fastball, but got the same pitch. A change-up was no different. McGraw dropped his mitt and asked Faust to try his hand at batting.
By then some of the Giants were watching, and decided to have some fun with Faust. As Faust dug in at the plate, the batting practice pitcher lobbed the ball right into the strike zone. Faust swung hard, and tapped an easy ground ball to the left side of the infield. The shortstop bobbled the ball on purpose, and while he was chasing it, Faust rounded first and headed for second.
As he slid into the bag, the second baseman purposely missed the throw. Faust got up and continued running. The third baseman also dropped the throw, and Faust dashed home, sliding in under the tag.
McGraw had a hunch that perhaps Faust might indeed be a kind of good-luck charm. He let the stranger travel with the team and gave him a uniform and spending money, but no contract. Faust didn’t care. He warmed up every day, hoping that he would get into a game.
McGraw did let Faust play in two games after the pennant was won. He had to because the fans had heard about Faust and wanted to see the “good-luck charm” in action.
In one game Faust got the side out for an inning. Apparently the other team was trying hard not to score. And when Faust came to bat, there were already three outs, but he took his turn anyway. As before, his grounder was turned into a series of errors, and the young man went sliding into all the bases as the crowd cheered. He pitched in a second game and allowed a run.
But Faust was a good-luck charm. The Giants won the pennant in 1911, 1912 and 1913.
At the end of the 1913 season, Faust wasn’t feeling well. He did not report to the Giants in 1914 because he was too sick. And in 1914 the “Miracle Boston Braves” unexpectedly won the National League Pennant.
Faust never came back to the Giants. His illness was fatal, and he died the following year.
From The Giant Book of Strange But True Sports Stories by Howard Liss. Illustrations by Joe Mathieu.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Faust
There is some disagreement as to whether Faust’s departure from the Giants was voluntary or because McGraw canned him. Faust also died of TB.