The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1911-01-26
5|GhAl PIRATES A
J. n i've R SAL
NUISANCE
oir-Lesgue Veteran Says That
Nearly Every American Park
Features One These
Days.
Players Have Come To Regard 1t As
Merely Part of the Game,
Though.
py PAUL HALE sRuskE.


steal their signs!
a fine motto for a leading partiei'
pa1,t in the national pastime is IL not!
And yet it is one that, according TO a
yeteran big-league baseball player Is
the battiecry-privately voiced Oh
course, but nevertheless faithfully
worked out--of no less than hve OIL
the American league clubs.
u have Il on the very best of author
/. {tv that such is the case. MY IN
dormant Is a man who has talked wltE
lie manipulators of the signal SER
vice in several OF the American
league cities. He is man VINO
knows these men personally. lie
/. knows whereof he speaks.
\ Buzxer Now Obsolete.
"They all do it now--all bat two
- three. he said. And they do II
. ina way that makes the famous oid
buszer OF the Philadelphia Nationals
1ook crude and barbarous. We play
erS now take it for granted every
1inne We step on the field We ar
r1nxe our plans to stop the thieves as
i'll.
~ Quite often we know the loca-
tkonN Of the signal bureau and make
10 secret Of II in our talks with the
team that maintains 1t. Once IN
while we find II necessary TO break
Il ND, as Hughie Jennings did in Now
York more than a year ago. But,
- = rule. we're content to regard II
nroposition of give and take.
a. good illustration of the way bali
u1orers look at 1t is seen in the fact
tkat. despite the knowledge We all
have Of these signal pirates, none OF
- has ever squealed to the authori-
/. Ties. We've merely had to go to. il
N .Belf- defense, and turn the tables
when We reached home, by trying 10
iudpfove. on the systems we've seen
81 the road.
Stsiiings An Amateur.
George Stallings Is regarded as the
tlnr highwayman when 1t comes to
sealing signals. That Is largely be-
Cause he got caught at it, though. AS
matter OF fact a couple of the
o<her American league bosses make
George look like porch-ciimber
alongside real Jesse James.
tI1 all the truth were known, n
lack OF form reversals in baseball
1oDt season would be a whole lot
easier to explain. In particular would
this be true OF the unexpected result
, a the worlds series. The Cubs didn't
(. have any license to win 1t but they
should have COPIED several more than
one game.
And the st. Louis Browns! They
Wer4 rotten, of course, but not nearly
opZrotten as their standing at the end
q the race. What could you expect
UBeD their Watchers handed out signs
<<Gfta blind man could read, a block
o~ayywitha pair Of opera glasses?
'tAs for me, / agree with Hughie
. Jonnings that. In the long run, team
1cD1es AZ much on the road as IL gains
- home, by the use of signal SER
WEE Players who, at home, get used
~ knowing everything the pitcher il
H4lng to throw and every move OF
no base runners before they make IT.,
11cL all at sea when, on the road,
f11y have to rely on their own in
1onnity again. Hughie leaves no stone
unturned though, to protect his signs,
and the Tigers went through all last
yoar with the reputation of having a
bctterz burglar-proof plan of operating
than any club in the league. Part
q the credit was undoubtedly due to
5 0chmidt and Stanage. They gave
0gnals with their hands, their feet,
HEIR knees, their eyes and their
E6eth. Donovan and Mullin used TO
i've their own signs on teh Philadel-
phia and New York grounds.
MA Baseball Advances.
tst'lt makes me laugh 10 hear old
}cgies say that the science OF baseball
Eaen't advanced in the past fifteen
s Years. Why, good signal pirate could
<1ke on one Of the old-time champion
clubs and show his men how TO make
twenty hits every day, beside tippinr
~ In advance every hit and run pl.y
HEY tried to make.
| " rCrooked? Why, not particularly
X IkS merely another element OF hazard
added to a great old game. Just n,
non as the general idea gets around
That a spyglass is on every sign, some
Voy will be found to fool the spyglas.
men. There are just as many bright
zen hiding those signs as there are
1ryIng 10 ind them.
And when a signal bureau get.
<&ings wrong. his club is in for worse
traits than IL would be without his
Mf&ffereuce"