A Brief History of Sign Stealing

The other day the Tigers were facing the White Sox and Sox pitcher Chris Sale threw at Victor Martinez.  Sale claimed that Martinez was stealing signs from the outfield bleachers.  I was in a meeting when this subject came up and everyone was upset with Sale basically saying there was no way anyone could get signs from the outfield and that Sale’s argument was a joke.  

I finally weighed in on the argument.  I stated that it was easy to steal signs from the outfield and in fact the Tigers have been known to do it.  The all said I was crazy.  I then told them that the 1940 Tigers would put a pitcher or a coach in the outfield bleachers with a pair of binoculars.  I was then asked rather doubtfully how they would relay the signs.  I explained that they would hold the binoculars with one hand if it was a fast ball and two if it was an off speed pitch.  I explained that the Tigers won the pennant that season by one game.  Their power hitters, Hank Greenberg and Rudy York went on a tear in September when one or the other hit a homer in 17 straight games.   In the World Series, the Tigers were afraid to put anyone in the bleachers for fear they would be found out and strung up.  In a bizarre twist of fate, the Tiger opponent in the series was the Cincinnati Reds.  They had a hall of fame catcher Ernie Lombardi.  But Ernie was injured during the season.  His back up was Willard Hershberger.  Willard was a troubled man who felt he was letting the team down by being a poor player.  So in August of the season he committed suicide.  The Reds had to call in former catcher and then coach Jimmie Wilson to catch the series.  Wilson held his hands so low the Tigers could see the signs from the dugout!  But they still lost the series in 7 games. 

I then gave a brief history of some of my favorite sign stealing incidents in baseball history.  One of the best and earliest is from 1899.  The Phillies had set up a buzzer system from the center field club houses all the way to the third base coaching box.  The Phillies were caught when on a particularly rainy day the third base coach for the Phils kept his foot in a puddle up to his shoelaces.  The Washington Senators third baseman figured out that when the coach kept his foot in the puddle the Phil’s could hit.  Between innings he called an up over and started pawing around in the mud and water and found a wooden box with a buzzer in it.  They pulled up the wire that was buried in the ground about an inch deep or so and traced it all way out to the clubhouse. 

The next big one was Bobby Thomson’s shot heard round the world.  There is a whole book about that called the Echoing Green (I highly recommend it.).  It tells the story of how the Giants set up a buzzer system from the center field clubhouses and with the help of a telescope would signal the coaches who relayed to the batters if it was a fast ball or breaking ball.  So Bobby Thomson’s homer was really cheating.  Part of the real irony is that the electrician who set up the buzzer system was a Dodger fan. 

Another famous example was the 1959 game between the Milwaukee Braves and the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Harvey Haddix pitched 12 innings of perfect ball against the Braves.  He ended up losing the game when he gave up a walk and then the lone hit of the game, a homer to Joe Adcock.  Adcock was so excited he passed the runner on the base paths.  The Braves stole the signs all game from the bull pen and relayed them by putting a towel over the fence to the bull pen for a fastball or taking it off for an off speed pitch.  Those same Braves were caught at a game in Chicago 2 years later when they put a couple of pitchers (Bob Buhl and Joey Jay) in the bleachers who were relaying the signals to the bench.  The Cubs fans caught on and chased them from the bleachers. 

This last one shows a couple of things.  1. I may have to give Cubs fans a little more credit.  2. Haddix really had his stuff that game if they knew and could not hit it.  And lastly, 3. Sometimes knowing the signs doesn’t help.  Tiger second baseman, Charlie Gerhinger, didn’t want the signs in the 1940 season.  He thought it took him off his mental edge at the plate and made him sloppy.  Also, some players just cant figure out the signs anyway.   Zeke Bonura was a big power hitter in the 1930’s and 1940’s but was not known for his intelligence.  His manager with the White Sox was Jimmie Dykes who was known exasperatedly to yell more than once to Zeke “Bunt you meathead!”

As for Martinez and Sale, V-Mart has fasced Sale 32 times at the plate.  He has a career .517 batting average and a .563 OBP to go with a .931 slugging percentage.  And now he has 1 HBP.  This is at home and on the road.  The issue is not binoculars in the stands.  The issue is Sale doesn't know what to do to get V-Mart out and is frustrated.