In the moments before first pitch, Alex Gordon will venture into the Royals’ dugout and locate the buckets of gum that sit atop the bench. His preferred fix is sugar-free Dubble Bubble, three pieces offering just the right amount.
For the next three hours, he chomps on the same three pieces, blowing bubbles and releasing nervous energy. The flavor disappears. The gum turns stale. Yet his jaws remain in motion. He cannot stop the routine, he says. He won’t even switch to fresh gum.
“If we go extra innings, I think about it,” Gordon said, sitting on a clubhouse couch in Boston on a recent afternoon.