Bruce Jenkins: A few ways to stop sign stealing in baseball.
At the onset of last year’s World Series, the Washington Nationals had their suspicions about the Houston Astros. “I kept thinking, ‘We have to go on the field and work early on our signs in the World Series just to stop their cheating,’ ” catcher Kurt Suzuki told the Washington Post this week. “It’s so stupid and so wrong.”
Is anyone listening? The Nationals changed their signs. That’s how you stop teams from stealing them, no matter how illegal their means might be.
“It’s just so basic,” said A’s broadcaster Ray Fosse , an AllStar catcher whose 12year career included three seasons (197375) with Oakland. “When I caught, I used signs that no
way they could be detected. One system we used a lot was the add and subtract. If I touch my chest, now that “1” sign for a fastball becomes a “2.” If I touch my leg, you subtract a number. Then you do that in reverse. Or maybe all the signs are on your equipment, and whatever you do between your legs means nothing. (A’s manager) Bob Melvin is one of the best at using multiple signs today.”
The Nationals weren’t taking any chances against Houston. Every pitcher was given five sets of signs, all of them posted under the bill of his cap. In practice, a sign that means a fastball for Max Scherzer could mean a slider for Stephen Strasburg. So many elements went into Washington’s sevengame victory in that World Series, but the pitchers weren’t about to get cheated out of it.
“The crucial thing is that everybody understands what’s going on,” said exGiants reliever Jeremy Affeldt. “It gets pretty complicated with four, five relievers coming into a game. Do they all know how to read some of that stuff ? You’re also relying on the catcher to remember all the different signs that a certain pitcher wants.”
Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow, who pitched for 14 years, recalled being in sign-stealing sync with catcher Bob Brenly. “We used the pump system,” he said. “One’s a curveball, 2 and 5 are fastballs, 3 is a slider, 4 is a changeup. Whatever number you start at, that’s when you start counting. Every sign after that counts as one, no matter how many fingers he puts down. After you get to 5, it rolls back to 1. In all the years we played together, nobody ever caught on to that.
“There are so many ways you can change it,” said Krukow, “and I don’t care how smart the other team is, whatever bulls— technology they might be using. Sitting there watching it and trying to relay it in real time to the hitter — if you’re changing it up that often, they have no chance. They’re not gonna get it.”
Within the next week or two, commissioner Rob Manfred is expected to announce new rules regarding ingame technology. Let’s hope he doesn’t trigger some halfbaked arrangement. Video rooms, headquarters for numerous illegal tactics, must be locked during the game.
“I’d be all for that,” Melvin said. “Players go in there to look at the umpires’ calls, or their last atbat, and that can get you in a bad place. It’s just not necessary.”
Affeldt calls it a “waste of time” when players head to the video room. “Who cares if you’re right or wrong about a ballandstrike call? It happened, move on. If you want to watch your atbats, do that before the game. To me, you don’t need the video room at all. Your head’s not in the game that’s happening right now.”
A number of catchers past and present, including Phillies manager Joe Girardi and the Giants’ Buster Posey, said they’d consider earpiece communication with the pitcher. “But how does that work?” Fosse wondered. “Does the catcher have a microphone? If so, what lanaguage is he speaking? The hitter’s right there. It’s just a bad idea, anyway, because I’ll guarantee you somebody’s gonna hack it.”
Former Giants pitcher Javier Lopez said he’s watched a number of Division I college games in which the catcher wears an earpiece, but he’s communicating only with a bench coach or manager. “That can be good to improve the flow of the game,” he said. “Maybe earpieces is the way to go. I don’t think it’s that bad of an idea.”
Krukow raised a couple of issues. “How do you communicate that signal to your middle infielders? Those guys are leaning left, or right, depending on the pitch that’s coming.” (ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian said he was told by elite infielders Cal Ripken and Ryne Sandberg that “on defense, they knew every pitch, and location, during their entire careers.”)
Even worse, said Krukow, “I don’t want some joker in the dugout calling my game. Bigleague pitchers get a feel for the hitter in the batter’s box, for the situation. You can’t just be a machine out there, told to throw a pitch and then you throw it. Maybe I throw a slider, and it’s a good one, but a little zing goes up my elbow and into my shoulder, and I know I can’t throw that pitch again. Even if the situation calls for it.
“I’m sorry, but somebody calling every pitch from the bench — if it ever comes to that, I won’t watch baseball again.”
Move it along
Another huge benefit from shutting down the video rooms: No more advice relayed to managers as to whether they should challenge a call. Come to think of it, just eliminate the manager’s challenge option altogether. Hire a fifth umpire to work onsite and review key plays — not every little thing — without chatting with the umpires on the field. Right now, viewers at home are determining the right answers long before the official word comes down . ... Should the Astros’ players be punished? Not thinking this out, Hank Aaron said on the “Today” show that “Whoever did that should be out of baseball for the rest of their lives.” Sounds good, except: Whoever did what? When? What about bullpen pitchers or players who insisted on staying out of the whole mess? Try this as a scary threat: The next time a violation this egregious comes down, the details won’t even matter. Every player on the team gets fined half his annual salary . ... If Manfred takes the proper steps, and teams know it’s time to limit signstealing to acceptable means, “You’ll see a lot less cheating,” Krukow said. “And if the hitters don’t know what’s coming, you’ll see a lot less offense. That’s going to be a big thing this season.”