The Detroit times., 1911-01-26
SIGNAL PIRATES 4
j NIVE R 5 AL
NUISANCE
Big-League Veteran Says That
Nearly Every American Park
Features One These
Days.
PLAYERS Have Come To egard 1t As
Merely Part of the Game,
Though.
BY PAUL HALE BRuskE.
Steal their signs!

Steal their signs!
fine motto for a leading paruol-
pant in the national pastime is it not!
And yet it is one that, according to a
Veteran big-league baseball player, Is
the battlecry-priyateiy voiced, OF
course but nevertheless faithfully
worked out-of no less than five OF
the American league clubs.
/ have II on the very best of author
sly that such is the case. My In
formant Is a man who has talked WITH
the manipulators of the signal ser
vice in several OF the American
league cities. He Is man who
knows these men personally. lie
knows whereof he speaks.
Buzzer Now Obsolete.
"They all do it now--all but two
or three he said. And they do II
in way that makes the famous gu
buzzer Sof the Philadelphia Natlonals
look crude and barbarous. We play
ers now take 1t for granted every
time we step on the field. we ar
range our plans to stop the thieves as
best we can. They do the same Dy
MS. Quite often We know the rloca-
ton of the signal bureau and make
no secret of il in our talks with the
team that maintains 1t. Once IN 2
while we find 1t necessary to break
Il up, as Hughie Jennings did In New
York more than year ago. But
as a rule. we're content to regard IT
d proposition of give and take.
"A good illustration OF the way ba.l
nIayers look at II is seen in the fact
That. despite the knowledge We all
have of these signal pirates. none OF
us has ever squealed to the authori-
\ ties. We've merely had TO go TO it
in self-defense, and turn the. tables
4 when we reached home. by trying 10
improve on the systems we've seen
en- the road.
StalIings An Amateur.
George Stallings is regarded as the
hing highwayman when IL comes to
stealing signals. That is largely be
cause be got caught at it, though. AS
matter OF fact couple OF the
other American league bosses make
George look like porch-climber
alongside real Jesse James.
I'll all the truth were known, q
sflock OF form reversals in baseball
last season would be a whole los
easier to explain. In particular would
this be true of the unexpected result
OF the worlds series. The Cubs didn't
have any license to win il but they
should have copied several more than
one game.
And the st. Louis Browns, They
were rotten, of course, but not nearly
as rotten as their standing at the end
~ tI.<. ~
when their catchers handed out signs
that a blind man could read, block
away, with pair of opera glasses?
AS Tor me, agree with Hughie
Jennings that, i'm the long run, team
losses as much on the road as II gains
at home, by the use of signal ser
vice. Players who, at, home, get used
4 10 knowing everything the pitcher is
4 going to throw and every move OF
tho base runners before they make it
feel all at sea when,i on the road
they have to rely on their own in,
genuity again. Hughie leaves no stone
unturned though, to protect his signs
and the Tigers went through all las
year with the reputation of having q
better burglar-proof plan OF operating
than any club in the league. Part
OF the cTeult was undoubtedly due &c
Schmidt and Stanage. They gave
signals with their hands, their feet
their knees, their eyes and theil
teeth. Donovan and Mullin used 70
give their own signs on teh Philadcl
phia and New York grounds.
80 Baseball Advances.
'It makes me laugh to hear olC
fogies say that the science OF baseball
hasn't advanced in the past fifteel
years. Why, a good signal pirate coul,
Z take on one of the old-time champion
clubs and show his men how to NAH,
twenty hits every day, beside tippint
OF in advance every hit and run pls.
they tried to make.
Crooked? Why, not particular,
It's merely another element OF hazar,
added TO a great old game. Just n
soon as the general idea gets arounr
that a spyglass Is on every sign. SOM
4 way will be found TO fool the spyglas
4 men. There arc just as many brigh
men hiding those signs as there ar,
trying TO find them.
And when signal bureau get
things wrong. his club is i'm for wors,
straits than it would be without hi
& Interference"