Stealing signals

[ksgovols]

I've never seen a batter give the guy on second props for letting him know what was coming. If I'm pitching, I'm hoping the batter is looking at the guy on 2nd while I'm in my delivery.

 

Stealing signs is a part of the game and the stuff that goes on between the lines is part of what I love about the game. I agree that the guy in the stands needs to let go. He's at the point in his life where he can no longer play the young man's game. It happens to all of us sooner or later.

[bigorangefan8]

It sounds like the game got a little heated. Who was playing?

[coachcutt]

Harpeth and Hillwood, and I agree with Bballer it just takes away from the integrity of the game. Parents should cheer their team on, not play mind games with the opponents.

[formerbobcat]

This guy knew his stuff, claimed to be a major league scout. They did change and he kept going. Their coach was complacent and the umpire said nothing he could do. Finally after an exchange with our catcher the umpire warned him that he could not adress the opposing players.

 

It didn't matter a whole lot as we beat them 13-0, thank God he was there to help his team or it would have gotten out of hand....

Pretty sure he he was not a major league scout. I think the guy you are referring to is nicknamed "Rainman". Good at stealing signs but pays $100.00 for every item he gets at the concession stand. Invite him to your ballpark, he is a great fundraiser.

[coachcutt]

I was just going on the information he told me...."I am a pro scout for the Red Sox". If it was the guy you are speaking of I hope he was hungry.

[cocheese]

I don't like that it was a spectator stealing the signs, but it is part of the game. I really, really don't like that some people think beaming a batter in a high school game is acceptable. This is not the pros. These kids have a lot ahead of them and baseball probably isn't it. You could seriously hurt a kid. A high school pitcher may mean to put in their back, but end up putting it in his teeth.

[BWood1]

Come on people.....If their is a parent and/or fan that can steal your coaches signs and the coach knows this and is too stupid to change his signs then you need a new coach. People have been stealing signs for as long as there has been baseball. Heck I even recall a district tournament game last year that my church youth director attended to watch my son. He had deciphered the opposing coaches signs by the 2nd inning.....swipe accross chest was fb, grab of belt was curve and all other signs were decoys. This was so laughable that he knew we knew his signals but refused to change them. He was subsequently fired from that school.

[DougS]

was he stealing the signs of the coach to batter or from the pitcher to the catcher?

[ksgovols]

I think you meant catcher to pitcher, but my understanding is the signs from coach to catcher is what was stolen. There are probably a few catchers who call their own game, but not that many. Coach is sitting on a bucket in the home dugout giving his catcher signals for pitch and location. Catcher relays that to the pitcher. Guy in the stands is yelling fastball or curve. whatever. It is easy enough to change it up.

 

As far as 'beaning' a batter, nothing wrong with establishing who owns the inside of the plate Scotty. Most high school pitchers are not bringing it 90+ and I can't count on both hands and all my toes the number of high school batters that I've seen take a pitch off the shoulder or leg or slide their elbow down and over the plate and take one on purpose on their upper arm. I've seen Blue call 'ball' for a kid not making enough effort to get out of the way of the pitch and call a strike for the batter taking one for the team on a pitch over the strike zone. Those are the correct calls by the way. If you get hit in the teeth by a pitched ball, you really haven't learned how to get hit by a pitch or how to get out of the way of one in my opinion.

 

All of this stuff is part of the nuances of the game that make it the great game that it is. The way players and coaches communicate and interact with each other in the course of the game with people watching in such a way that it's unique to their team is pretty cool. Trying to break that code is kinda cool too but only from the opposing teams dugout. Spectators should be spectators. Enforcing The Code and playing the game the way it's meant to be played means something to the participants. Plunking a batter for showing up your pitcher, in retaliation for an opposing plunk or to send a message is part of that communication if it's done in the right way and most everybody in the stands is clueless as to what is going on. My wife punches me in the ribs every time I tell one of our kids 'wear that!' on an inside pitch. My older son got good at it. He'd flinch a little so it looked like he was getting out of the way. My younger one gets his uniform dirty for no reason.

Edited April 3, 2013 by ksgovols