The ball park looks likes the most innocent, All American Place to spend a few hours and enjoy our national pastime, but beware! There is more intrigue, deception, spying, code breaking, and intelligence gathering going on than happened during World War II. Everyone is transmitting in code. The manager is signaling the batter. The catcher is signaling the pitcher. The runner on second is signaling the third base coach. The third base coach is signaling the runner on first. And the guy sitting in seat HH218 is trying to signal to the beer guy “That’s two Miller Lites and two regular MGDs.”
When pitching in baseball, there needs to be an element of surprise. You want to throw a batter off his rhythm. You want to throw him something he doesn’t expect or anticipate. But the catcher can’t be surprised by what the pitcher throws or else he might miss the catch, giving an advantage to the other team. The pitcher and catcher need to COMMUNICATE without shouting it between homeplate and pitcher's mound. That’s why there are signs. And that’s why baseball is like the Cold War in many ways. Some people are trying to send coded messages to the good guys and the bad guys are trying to intercept the message and pass it on to headquarters who will plan their actions accordingly.
And to think I once thought baseball was boring.
There are different types of signs going on during a game, and you’ve probably seen at least two of them if you’ve watched a televised game. One is the sign passed from the catcher to the pitcher, indicating what kind of pitch to throw. The other signs are from the coaches or manager to the players, either to the batter, or to the runners on base.
The catcher usually takes charge of the defense and is usually the most knowledgeable about the quirks and preferences of the batter at bat and of quirks and abilities of the pitcher on the mound. So, the catcher calls for a certain pitch by sending a sign to the pitcher who can accept or “shake it off”, which means the pitcher is calling for something different. You’ve seen these signs before. The catcher signs to the pitcher using his fingers between his legs in his crouch. He has to shield the sign with his legs in order to prevent the opposing team’s coaches from seeing it. And believe me, they are looking for it. Stealing bases and stealing signs is acceptable in this game.
Typical signs might be one finger down for a fast ball, two fingers down for a curve ball, three fingers down for a slider, and a wiggling of four fingers to indicate a change up. (You remember these pitches from the last entry, don’t you? You are coming along just fine, girlfriend! ) The catcher may also tap the inside of either thigh to indicate if the pitch should go inside or close to the batter, or be thrown away from the batter toward the outside of the plate. Sometimes catchers will wrap their fingertips with white tape or paint their fingernails with Whiteout to make it easier for the pitcher to see from the mound.
But if the pitcher is able to see one white tipped finger tapping the catcher's right thigh, so can that pesky runner on second who is standing directly behind him. And he has his own signals to flash back to the third base coach who signals to the batter, “STOP. LOOK FOR FAST BALL TO OUTSIDE OF THE PLATE. STOP.” This is where Baseball Culture Meets Spy Culture.
If the United State used a simple code during World War II, such as 1 for a, 2 for b, 3 for c, etc, we would have been slaughtered. Instead, we came up with the Navajo Codetalkers, using Navajo speakers to speak in what was then a totally indecipherable language to the enemy world. Even if the message was intercepted, the enemy didn’t know what it meant. Those guys helped us win the Big Game. (Ahééhee! Thanks, guys!)
Enter the situation when the opposing team has a runner on second. If the pitcher can see the signals from the catcher, the enemy runner on second can see the signals, so if there is a runner on second, the catcher and pitcher may use alternate signs. They talk to each other in code.
These may involve putting down a sequence of fingers, such as four-two-two-one. Now maybe only the first two mean anything. Or maybe the last two. Or the catcher pounds his glove twice or adjusts his facemask a special way, or touches his chest to call a sign or to indicate what alternative signs he'll be using. Or maybe he places his gloved hand down behind his thigh instead of on top of his thigh. Or maybe he moonwalks behind home plate toward the opposing team’s dugout. (Just kidding, my little tub of chili cheese fries!) Usually the signs aren’t that obvious. If signs are too obvious, or given in a way that the batter can see it or the second baseman can figure it out, it gives the advantage to the enemy.
Meanwhile, the manager in the dugout and the base coaches at first and third have their own little code-generating-dance going on. Have you ever seen the third base coach or the Main Honcho Father Figure Guy give baseball signs? This is one of the most intriguing parts of baseball to me. It’s like a bad imitation of Appalachian hamboning. Slap the thighs and the chest several times, tip the ball cap, wipe the chest, hit the thighs again, touch the cheeks, wave Petticoat Junction, then pound your fists together twice. That means, steal the first chance you get. Or at least the sign of touching your cheek means steal. The funny thing about those signals is most of them don’t mean anything. They are decoys. Somewhere is the midst of all that slapping, there is a small (Secret Code, I’m telling you) change in the pattern that is the real sign of what the player needs to do. I learned that the wipe across the chest can mean that the coach made a mistake and wants to erase what he just said. Think of it as the bodily representation of the undo button on our computers. I guess standing in the sun all day can confuse the best of us.
Signs to the runners once they are rounding the bases are more obvious because secrecy doesn’t matter here. If the ball is behind the runner and he can’t see what is happening in the outfield, the third base coach will give signals to keep running (often a winding motion with the arm) or to stop (two hands up with a stopping motion) based on where the ball is and where the fielders are. Okay, not all the signs rise to the Cold War stealth model. But while you think the players and coaches are just hanging out on the field enjoying the beautiful day and waiting for something to happen, there's actually a whole lot of shakin' going on.
You can try out your own signs in the comfort of your own home. The next time you are sitting with your sweetie watching a game, send some couch signals of your own. Make most of them meaningless, but stick a good one in the noise, such as a suggestive wink, a wet kiss blown through the air, a double cupping of the breasts with both hands ... well … you get the idea. Try out a little intrigue and deception of your own and see what happens. Remember the most important rule of all, baseball is supposed to be fun.
When pitching in baseball, there needs to be an element of surprise. You want to throw a batter off his rhythm. You want to throw him something he doesn’t expect or anticipate. But the catcher can’t be surprised by what the pitcher throws or else he might miss the catch, giving an advantage to the other team. The pitcher and catcher need to COMMUNICATE without shouting it between homeplate and pitcher's mound. That’s why there are signs. And that’s why baseball is like the Cold War in many ways. Some people are trying to send coded messages to the good guys and the bad guys are trying to intercept the message and pass it on to headquarters who will plan their actions accordingly.
And to think I once thought baseball was boring.
There are different types of signs going on during a game, and you’ve probably seen at least two of them if you’ve watched a televised game. One is the sign passed from the catcher to the pitcher, indicating what kind of pitch to throw. The other signs are from the coaches or manager to the players, either to the batter, or to the runners on base.
The catcher usually takes charge of the defense and is usually the most knowledgeable about the quirks and preferences of the batter at bat and of quirks and abilities of the pitcher on the mound. So, the catcher calls for a certain pitch by sending a sign to the pitcher who can accept or “shake it off”, which means the pitcher is calling for something different. You’ve seen these signs before. The catcher signs to the pitcher using his fingers between his legs in his crouch. He has to shield the sign with his legs in order to prevent the opposing team’s coaches from seeing it. And believe me, they are looking for it. Stealing bases and stealing signs is acceptable in this game.Typical signs might be one finger down for a fast ball, two fingers down for a curve ball, three fingers down for a slider, and a wiggling of four fingers to indicate a change up. (You remember these pitches from the last entry, don’t you? You are coming along just fine, girlfriend! ) The catcher may also tap the inside of either thigh to indicate if the pitch should go inside or close to the batter, or be thrown away from the batter toward the outside of the plate. Sometimes catchers will wrap their fingertips with white tape or paint their fingernails with Whiteout to make it easier for the pitcher to see from the mound.
But if the pitcher is able to see one white tipped finger tapping the catcher's right thigh, so can that pesky runner on second who is standing directly behind him. And he has his own signals to flash back to the third base coach who signals to the batter, “STOP. LOOK FOR FAST BALL TO OUTSIDE OF THE PLATE. STOP.” This is where Baseball Culture Meets Spy Culture.
If the United State used a simple code during World War II, such as 1 for a, 2 for b, 3 for c, etc, we would have been slaughtered. Instead, we came up with the Navajo Codetalkers, using Navajo speakers to speak in what was then a totally indecipherable language to the enemy world. Even if the message was intercepted, the enemy didn’t know what it meant. Those guys helped us win the Big Game. (Ahééhee! Thanks, guys!)
Enter the situation when the opposing team has a runner on second. If the pitcher can see the signals from the catcher, the enemy runner on second can see the signals, so if there is a runner on second, the catcher and pitcher may use alternate signs. They talk to each other in code.
These may involve putting down a sequence of fingers, such as four-two-two-one. Now maybe only the first two mean anything. Or maybe the last two. Or the catcher pounds his glove twice or adjusts his facemask a special way, or touches his chest to call a sign or to indicate what alternative signs he'll be using. Or maybe he places his gloved hand down behind his thigh instead of on top of his thigh. Or maybe he moonwalks behind home plate toward the opposing team’s dugout. (Just kidding, my little tub of chili cheese fries!) Usually the signs aren’t that obvious. If signs are too obvious, or given in a way that the batter can see it or the second baseman can figure it out, it gives the advantage to the enemy.
Meanwhile, the manager in the dugout and the base coaches at first and third have their own little code-generating-dance going on. Have you ever seen the third base coach or the Main Honcho Father Figure Guy give baseball signs? This is one of the most intriguing parts of baseball to me. It’s like a bad imitation of Appalachian hamboning. Slap the thighs and the chest several times, tip the ball cap, wipe the chest, hit the thighs again, touch the cheeks, wave Petticoat Junction, then pound your fists together twice. That means, steal the first chance you get. Or at least the sign of touching your cheek means steal. The funny thing about those signals is most of them don’t mean anything. They are decoys. Somewhere is the midst of all that slapping, there is a small (Secret Code, I’m telling you) change in the pattern that is the real sign of what the player needs to do. I learned that the wipe across the chest can mean that the coach made a mistake and wants to erase what he just said. Think of it as the bodily representation of the undo button on our computers. I guess standing in the sun all day can confuse the best of us.
Signs to the runners once they are rounding the bases are more obvious because secrecy doesn’t matter here. If the ball is behind the runner and he can’t see what is happening in the outfield, the third base coach will give signals to keep running (often a winding motion with the arm) or to stop (two hands up with a stopping motion) based on where the ball is and where the fielders are. Okay, not all the signs rise to the Cold War stealth model. But while you think the players and coaches are just hanging out on the field enjoying the beautiful day and waiting for something to happen, there's actually a whole lot of shakin' going on.
You can try out your own signs in the comfort of your own home. The next time you are sitting with your sweetie watching a game, send some couch signals of your own. Make most of them meaningless, but stick a good one in the noise, such as a suggestive wink, a wet kiss blown through the air, a double cupping of the breasts with both hands ... well … you get the idea. Try out a little intrigue and deception of your own and see what happens. Remember the most important rule of all, baseball is supposed to be fun.
2 comments:
Keith Danish writes, "aka giving the pitcher the finger."
another of my baseball poems that
was written after the baseball haiku anthology came out...
shaken off a second time
the catcher flashes
his middle finger
ed markowski
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