Sign Stealing — Baseball Bench Coach

I recently found “Ball Four” on my book shelf, a tell all account of pitcher Jim Bouton’s season with the expansion Seattle Pilots in 1969. When the book was first circulated fifty years ago, it drew as much controversy in the baseball world as the revelations of the Astros’ cheating scandal this past winter. Using a flashlight in my bedroom in 1970, I was able to get through part of the story until one day the book mysteriously disappeared. Dad had discovered that I was reading it and promptly took the book to his workplace to be returned “when I was ready for it”. That copy was never seen again. So now, with a new copy in hand, finally I think I’m ready for Bouton’s inside scoop on baseball. It’s a great read, and actually funny to think of now as being so scandalous at the time. Yes, there are some stories of players on road trips, but what I have enjoyed the most is Bouton’s explanation of the nuances of baseball, such as the secret language of signs.

Communicating to batters and base runners with signals by the third base coach has long been part of baseball’s mystique. Before the pitch is delivered to the plate both the batter and base runner will check if there is a “play on” – take, bunt, hit and run, suicide squeeze, etc. Since it’s fair game for the opposing team to attempt to “steal” the sign, the third base coach masks the signals through an indicator (the hot sign is the next one after), wipe off (previous signs are negated), or number of touches (each numbered touch represents a sign). Some former players, coaches, and managers in the MLB are notorious for stealing signs, such as Lou Piniella, Don Zimmer, and Roger Craig. A lesser known sign stealing expert was former White Sox coach Joe Nossek. Nossek, a college math major who had a brief playing career, made a 40-year MLB coaching career out of deciphering signals. He kept a notebook on all opponents and the tendencies he observed during the game.

There is a second set of baseball signs, the catcher’s signals to a pitcher on what pitch to throw. Depending on the number of pitches in his arsenal, a pitcher looks for 1 – fastball; 2- curve; 3 – change up, and location. In his book, Bouton humorously talks about having poor eyesight so the number of times the catcher flashed his fingers replaced the actual numbers. Here too, a catcher needs to use indicators and/or a numbering system to disguise the signal when there are runners on base, especially second. It’s common practice for a base runner to attempt to relay to a batter the type of pitch or location. Many batters want the information, but some don’t. Pete Rose has remarked that he never asked for help since the runner might be wrong and he wanted to simply react to the pitch. While some in baseball contend the practice violates unwritten rules of etiquette, to this day stealing signs is not a violation of MLB rules.

When do we cross the line from gamesmanship to cheating? MLB’s answer has consistently been where equipment is used to steal the signs. As far back as 1961 the National League banned the use of any “mechanical device” to steal signs. In 2001 MLB issued a memorandum declaring that teams cannot use any “electronic” equipment to communicate during games, especially for stealing signs. More recently, in March 2018 and 2019 MLB distributed guidance memos prohibiting the use of equipment in the clubhouse, video rooms, replay booths, and dugouts for the purpose of sign stealing. The #1 concern for any sports governing body is safeguarding the public trust that outcomes of games and championships are decided fairly. I remember watching Game 7 of the 2017 World Series when FOX commentator Joe Buck and analyst John Smoltz discussed Dodgers ace Yu Darvish possibly “tipping” his pitches as a reason for the Astros success against him. To learn later that Darvish’s poor performance and Houston’s world championship might have been the result of illegal sign stealing sacrifices that trust.

Unfortunately, the 2017 World Series is not the first altered MLB result due to sign stealing. There are early MLB stories of hiding people in shacks in the outfield, backup players using binoculars and a telegraph, and coaches standing on a box with electric wires relaying coded messages, all for the purpose of alerting hitters to what pitch was coming. Some of baseball’s greatest players and moments are also marred. Ty Cobb admitted that there was a scoreboard spy in Detroit who used binoculars to detect the opposing catcher’s signals and advise the hitter of the pitch by opening and closing a letter in a Tiger Stadium advertising sign. Bob Feller, renowned for his lightning fastball on the mound, came back from World War II with a military gun scope to assist his team’s hitters. And probably one of the top five moments in baseball history, New York Giants Bobby Thompson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” home run that ended the 1951 World Series victory over the Yankees, was the result of a tipped pitch, although Thompson never admitted it.

Last November Mike Fiers, an Oakland pitcher who was with the Astros in 2017, told “The Athletic” that Houston stole signs that season at Minute Maid Park with the help of a camera in the outfield. He alleged that the camera was connected to a television monitor in the tunnel between the clubhouse and dugout, and players in the dugout would communicate to the hitter an off-speed pitch was coming by banging on a trash can. MLB launched an investigation that involved interviews of 68 witnesses, including 23 current and former Astros players, and review of emails, video clips, text messages, and photographs, confirming the illegal practice during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. In its January report, MLB named one player for his transgressions, Carlos Beltran, as well as 2017 bench coach, Joey Cora, who was part of the scheme. Cora managed the Red Sox to a World Series win in 2018. Beltran had been named the Mets manager for the 2020 season.

MLB fined the Astros $5 million, the maximum fine under its Constitution, and stripped the club of its first and second round draft choices in 2020 and 2021. Manager AJ Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow were both suspended for one season, and were promptly let go by the Astros. Beltran was fired by the Mets without ever managing a game. The Red Sox relieved Cora of his managerial duties due to his role in the Astros scandal, while MLB at the same time was investigating whether Boston had used a sign stealing scheme in its own 2018 championship run. In April MLB ended its investigation into the Red Sox matter, suspending a video staffer involved and having the Red Sox surrender a second-round draft choice. Interestingly, there is also a report of a lawsuit filed in California against the Astros by former MLB pitcher Mike Bolsinger claiming that the Astros’ scheme ended his career. In addition to personal damages, Bolsinger’s suit seeks the Astros forfeiture of $30 million in 2017 postseason shares.

Was MLB’s discipline enough? If the answer rests in whether it will deter future players from engaging in cheating, it falls woefully short of the mark. Former Brewers manager George Bamberger offered this view of a player’s mindset: “If you are a pro, then you often don’t decide whether to cheat based on if it’s ‘right or wrong’. You base it on whether or not you can get away with it, and what the penalty might be.” MLB has previously used its ultimate weapon, permanent ineligibility, in cases of gambling, conspiring to fix games, and substance abuse. In the current scandal there is not even one player suspension. Without appropriate discipline, it seems the baseball world’s confidence in the fairness of the outcomes of games and championships will always be an issue. Was Jose Altuve wearing a buzzer under his Astros jersey when he hit his series-deciding walk-off home run in the 2019 ALCS? We’ll never be sure. The answer lies in how much risk Altuve was willing to take, and right now, the reward wins out.

Despite some rumblings, it took a former Astro, Mike Fiers, to report on the Astros’ activities two years after the fact for MLB to launch an investigation. Indeed, Fiers was attacked by some players and media for being a snitch. When “Ball Four” was released in 1970, Jim Bouton was summoned to New York by MLB commissioner Bowie Kuhn and asked to sign a statement that the events in the book were fictitious. Bouton refused. He, like Fiers, was just giving a factual account that embarrassed MLB. My Dad did the right thing 50 years ago by taking “Ball Four” from his 11-year old son. I wasn’t ready for it. MLB should do the right thing now by taking championships away from teams that cheat. Is baseball ready for it?

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach