Clipping:Stealing signs 3
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| Date | Wednesday, September 4, 1889 |
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| Text | [from an interview of an unidentified Boston player] “Now, I'll tell you why the Phillies' pitchers are being hit so hard lately. The secret lies in the fact that about every club in the League is onto their signs. Take Buffinton for example, he signs with his mouth. If you see him press his lips close together you expect a fast straight ball and that is what we are laying back for. When he stands in the box with his mouth open it means that he will put one of his drop balls over the plate, and we simply leave that go as it is hard to hit, and besides generally drops so low as to be nothing but a 'ball' anyhow. Thus you see by not going after his drop balls we get him into a hole, and he must then put them over straight, and those are the ones we lace out. Sanders signs with his left foot. If he has it turned to the left it is a curve ball. Casey and Gleason are also doing their own signing, and we are dead onto them.” In using the above we are not betraying any confidence, as the Boston-Philadelphia series is now practically over, and the Bostons can no longer lose anything by the Philadelphia batters getting up new signs. “Indeed,” said one of the Boston men last Tuesday night, “I hope the Phillies will change their signs now before they meet New York again and thus down the latter, as that is the 0only club we have to fight for the pennant.” In this connection it may be added that it is poor policy for the pitcher to give the signs, as nine out of ten times the opposing team get onto them in a very short time and then it means almost certain defeat for that side. If the catcher asks for the sign so he can hide it that the coachers will scarcely get onto it, while the batsman must depend on the men in the coachers' box to give him the cue, as he dare not look around else he is not ready to bat, pitchers being always on the watch to catch batters napping. The combination sign, i.e., giving two or three at once, is the only safe one, as then the opposing side never knows which one is meant, though the battery understands it. Welch, Keefe and Ewing, Clarkson and Bennett, Seward and Robinson and several other batteries we know of use the combination sign with marked success, and they frequently change it in the middle of a game when the opposing side makes a number of safe hits in succession and they get suspicious that the other side is onto them. |
| Source | Sporting Life |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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