If you see an Oral Roberts baseball player eat a gummy snake after he gets a base hit during this year’s College World Series, you’re not imagining things.
The team’s first-base coach Jimmy Turk has been giving his players the Haribo gummy snakes when they’ve gotten on base, and the tradition has continued for this year’s college baseball championship tournament.
“It’s kind of a form of a gummy,” Turk told MLB.com about the gummy delights. “Haribo makes them. They’re called Twin Snakes.”
Every time a player gets a base hit, MLB reported, they’ll receive one of the Twin Snakes. They’re actually not gummy worms, as much as it looks like it on the broadcast.
“ORU players have tried both and prefer Snakes over Worms,” the report shared.
The Oral Roberts “gummy worm if you reach base” tradition is alive and well in Omaha 😂 pic.twitter.com/wsHZN2ayiJ
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) June 16, 2023
The tradition is reportedly part of what has made this Oral Roberts team close.
“This is a really close group and guys really like it,” Turk said to MLB. “Baseball is really hard, these guys work really hard. We just try and do something to loosen them up and have fun. We want to remind them that baseball’s a kids’ game.”
The Haribo gummy company has even given Oral Roberts some gummy swag.
A gift from our friends at Haribo 🙏 🥹#ORUBase | #Haribo pic.twitter.com/POCzQnXLTH
— ORU Baseball (@ORUBaseball) June 15, 2023
Feature photo courtesy of ESPN.
