Evening star., 1926-01-26

Manager Hanlon told Harry
Howell pitcher, and another player
TO get into thnir street clothes and
go to the tenement house and inves-
tigate They found a vacant apart
ment. They tried the door and it
opened. They walked into the front
room, and here they discovered the
same Morgan Murphy and two Phila-
delphia substitutes, evidently there TO
protect him against surprise inVa-
sion. Murphy and his confederates
were signaling the Philadelphia bats
men by means Of the papers.
Fails to Bring Flag.
Now. one would think that with all
this advantage no team could stop
Philadelphia. The batter always
knew what the pitcher was going 10
serve him and he was set to hit, and
did hit, but this terrific clouting
never won a pennant for Phlladel-
nhia. The nearest Philadelphia came
TO winning was when the team nm
tshed second to Brooklyn in 1900. and
in that year they did very little. If
any. signal stealing. They were play
ing on the level.
Getting the other teams signals is
D. handicap instead of an advantage.
The trouble with any team Will be
lust what the trouble was with the
slugging Philadelphia club-the pay
srs will concentrate only on nl1tlns,.
All they will think of is their lndl-
~idual batting average. They ignore
team play and they pay less and less
attention to fielding. They step on
the playing field only to bat.
Several clubs have been caught at
stealing signals, but it never helped
one of them to any extent. While
George T. Stallings was manager OF
the New York Americans that team
began batting suspiciousiy well at
home, and it became rumored that
the hitting was not the mere result
Of batting skill. l was managing
9etrott at the time, and on visit to
Washington 1 was tipped off by Joe
CantiIlon to change battery signals
every inning in New York, where we
were going from there, as signals
were being stolen on the home
grounds of the New Workers.. No one
had been able to find out how they
got the signals, but teams were all
convinced that they did get them
Recalling the system that had been
used in Philadelphia. started search
ing for a similar trick in New York.
The first thing to do was look TO the
rear of center field for signal sta
tion. There was no clubhouse in
center, but there was a little hut Just
outside, it's peaked roof showing
above the top of the fence. Signs had
been painted over the fence in center
field, and / watched these signs
closely One of them advertised
Young Hats" in huge black letters
against a white background. My at
iention became centered on this sign.
/ finally got the key to the system
by observing the II" I noticed the
crossbar in the III" moved. | told
our catcher about it. and told him to
watch the crosSbar after giving the
signal. He watched for one inning
and discovered the system. The bar
remained stationary when a fast ball
was signaled for. The signal for
curve resulted in a slight lifting of
the bar, and for a slow ball 1t was
slightly lowered.
Tuthill Makes Discovery.
Harry Tuthil was trainer of the
Detroit club at the time, and / told
Tuthill to get outside and reach the
hut unseen. This he did. He found
Gene McCann seated in the hut. Two
hotties of beer were beside him. Nc
Cam used to pitch for the Jersey
City and Brooklyn clubs. Stallings
had engaged him for the purpose of
scouting for the New York club, SO IT
was announced.
"What you doin' here?" McCann
asked Tuthill.
Looking for something" answered
Tuthill.
Mccain left the box, and Tuthill
entered. He found handle coming
through the fence. He gave it a
iIsty kick and broke it. The handle
dropped to the floor of the hut and
the crossbar of the II" dropped to
the ground outside at the same time.
Tuthill brought the broken handle
back to me.
Here's your. evidence" said Tut.
hin.
But the New York club denied this.