The Washburn leader., 1910-10-07
TOUCHING
SECOND
By Johnny Evers and Hugh Fullerton
Continued from last week.
CONTINUED from last week)
By Johnny Evers and Hugh Fullerton

,t 1uey 10 uOL realize LQaC aS soon aS
Marquard Of New York, or Pfiester of
Chicago, is named to pitch, the op-
posing manager orders a bunting
game, or that as soon as a catcher
known to have weak arm, or to
Mrow badly, or pitcher who does
not watch base runners carefully is
elected to perform battery duty for
the day the opposing manager sig
nails STEAL" STEAL" "steal," to every
4ast man who reaches a base.
Listen to coacher, DOC" Mar
shall of Brooklyn, for instance, on the
line at first base. running up and
down, paving the dirt, acting like a
madman, and perhaps one not deeply
versed in the game imagines he is
trying to rattle" the opposing pitch
er, or spur his own men to greater
efforts. A hundred of the words or
phrases he uses may mean nothing,
but somewhere among them the base
runners hears: Careful, Harry"
which tells him Marshall has seen a
signal for fast ball, flashed the bat
ter signal to hit and is warning the
runner to start as soon as the ball is
pitched. Or he may catch: Now
we're at EN-" and leap forward to
save himself from being forced when
the batter bunts sacrifice.
The lengths to which clubs will go
to learn the signals, especially the
signals of managers from the bench,
is astonishing to those not familiar
with the game. To catch a signal
legitimately, by observation, quick
ness of eye or quickness of thinking is
part of the sport, Marshall of Brook
lyn, Kane of Chicago, Doom of Phila-
delphia, Bridwell of New York, Hart
sci of the Athletics. of the present
generation of players, are past mas
tiers of the art of seeing what the op-
posing batsmen are trying to do be-
fore the effort is made. In one game
at Cincinnati in 1909 Manager Griffith
said he was compelled to change his
signals six times during the contest
because Pat Moran was getting them.
Efforts have been made in the past
to steal the signals by the most
\ methods. Perhaps the worst case of
this kind ever revealed was that of
the old Philadelphia team in the Ma
tional league. Here was the greatest
aggregation of batters ever assembled
on one team, but. not satisfied with
their natural batting ability, they
wanted to know in advance what kind
Nf ho1 h0
serve in order to increase their hit
ting. Morgan Murphy, one of the
cleverest men at interpreting signals
who ever played in a ball game. for
mulated the plan. Stationing himself
with q confederate in the clubhouse in
center field, he armed himself with a
pair of powerful field glasses with
which he watched the signals of the
catchers as we'll as the signals of the
managers from the bench. 1t was aft
erwards learned that he frequently
watched the pitcher, catcher and man.
ager making up their signals before
game and frequently knew before play
started every signal that was to be
used.
At first the signals were given by
the confederate, who stood in a club
house window, and passed the signals
by the positions of his arms against
the sides of the window. One arm
was for fast balls, the other for
curves, and the code included many
positions of the man. The opponents,
knowing their signals were being
tipped off," grew suspicious and
Murphy, learning of their suspicious
and fearing detection, changed his
plan and gave the signals by raising
or lowering an awning on the club
house. II the awning was raised q
few inches and held there. fast ball
was to be pitched and if it was raised
and dropped quickly curve had been
signaled for Not content with the
success at home the club took Murphy
on the road. and he worked from win
dows overlooking the park, often
hiring rooms in order to carry on the
unsportsmanlike practice.
Murphy's awning worked we'll. until
it was discovered by sharp eyes on
the bench and then Murphy and his
associates invented something entire
ly new in baseball. They put electric
wires underground, connecting the
clubhouse with the coacher's box at
third base and buried in the ground
a small wooden box containing a
"buzzer." A certain noisy, obstreper-
o,,s nlaver was stationed at third base
with one foot directly over the boz
Tpntaining the "buzzer" and as the
Signal sounded he could feel the tap
ping under his foot, whereupon he
called a code word warning the bat
ter what the pitcher was going to
bitch or what the opposing manager
had ordered from the bench.
Not a regular player on the Phila-
delphia team batted under 300 per
cent. while the "buzzer" was in op-
Grafton. and several of their pitchers
and catchers were among the leading
batters of the National league. OPP
posing teams knew that, in some way.