Caturday: Sporty cats on the field

A cat brought good luck (if you believe in that) to the St. Louis Cardinals earlier this week, so for Caturday, we’d like to remember other sports-loving kitties.

Happy Caturday! You may have already heard about the determined kitten zooming across the field during the Aug. 9 game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals. The cat caused quite a stir, especially since, once it was removed from the field (by a man who had obviously never had to hold a cat before in his life), Yadier Molina hit a grand slam and put the Cardinals in the lead, 8-5. Here’s a look at the lucky kitty in action:

Field of cat dreams

But this is definitely not the first time a cat has stolen the show at a sports event. Quite recently, in fact, another kitty made waves on National Pet Day by showing up at a Miami Marlins game, evading capture for awhile, climbing a lit sign, and settling on a statue:

Then there’s the black cat that apparently “cursed” the 1969 Chicago Cubs by walking in front of their dugout, after which the tide of the game turned dramatically and the Cubs missed the playoffs. I’m no expert on either baseball or curses, but given how determined all these folks seem to be to blame the cat, it makes me wonder if perhaps they didn’t let the cat psych them out a little too much in the moment?

When cats are the athletes

Of course, we can’t forget the greatest exhibition of cat sportsmanship ever—the Kitten Bowl. Kitten Bowl IV back in February brought us an entire day of adorable kittens wandering aimlessly around a toy-infested field while some very determined hosts pretended they were playing anything resembling football:

Next: Kitten Bowl IV: All the purrr-fect highlights from the game

Even if I, living with two decidedly lazy cats who are uninterested in sports beyond batting at the dudes running on the TV screen, do not understand the desirability of a loud, wide open field for a cat to lay in, I anticipate many more cat visits in sporting events in the future. But, uh, don’t bring your cat to a sporting event, please.