Jun 17, 2008 By Rich Taylor - Special to the Times
Signs, signs, everywhere a sign, do this don't do that, can't you read the sign? I just can't get those 1970 lyrics by the Five Man Electrical Band out of my mind.
Signs are everywhere. They tell us how to drive, where to park and how fast to go. Judging how people drive leads me to believe that those specific signs are highly ignored.
Other signs try to grab our attention by telling us to buy one and get seven free. Some tend to annoy us by letting us know the only bathroom in the entire store is out of order, or the freeway off ramp you use on a daily basis is closed, forcing you to exit in the next county.
We just couldn't exist in society if we didn't have signs. Otherwise the only way to find your friends house would be to go the fork in the road, make a left at the oak tree and proceed down the road until you come to the blue house, located directly after the mulberry bush.
Baseball is no exception. Signs are commonplace and even though they're not of the conventional variety, they control the game.
You'd think that someone making 16 million dollars per year to pitch, or a hitter raking in 25 million to hit the long ball, wouldn't need a sign to direct them. Quite the contrary. Without them mayhem would ensue and strategy would fail to exist.
To the unknowing eye, baseball signs may look ridiculous, thereby stigmatizing baseball professionals as a non-intelligent group of laughable athletes who can't figure out what to do until someone flashes them a sign.
Baseball purists will tell you this form of communication makes the game a challenging chess match and you have to have some cerebral intelligence to interpret the secretive messages.
If you were transported in some back to the future time machine, you'd find out signs originated in 1869 by the Cincinnati Red Stockings. I'm kind of guessing here, but I have an idea they weren't as elaborate as they are today.
There are signs to advance a runner when the courtesy of a hit won't due, signs on where to throw the next pitch and signs that make pitchers look like robots and hitters resembling a character right out of the movie 1984.
Nonetheless, signs control the game. Since those days before the turn of the century signs have become so intricate that players need a portable laptop nowadays to translate the hieroglyphic code.
Can't figure out the signs? Let me try to decipher them for you. Coaches may look like they have an uncontrollable itch or the family dog has transmitted fleas to its owner, but that's not the case.
Usually, there is a key, or a hot spot that third base coaches touch and the following sign is what they want the hitter or base runner to do, such as steal, hit and run or bunt. Sometimes it might be the third sign after the hot sign, or the second, or he might wipe off the sign, meaning nothing is on. Confused yet?
In some instances his left arm is the hot arm, translating to mean that every sign he gives with his right hand means nothing. In addition, certain spots he touches mean nothing, while others do. Sometimes his signs stay within his upper torso and others go to his head, arms or thighs. Getting the hang of it?
Some coaches don't have a key and choose to go with a number system, meaning the number of touches signals the play they want to put on. And, these coaches must get their signs from the manager or bench coach, which means they have to translate a set of signs before they dole out there own set.
Most teams change the hot sign every three innings and the hot sign itself changes from game to game and each time they play a new team. When players are traded signs change for obvious reasons. Certain managers don't have hot signs.
Take for example a team that played in the Central Division of the American League. Now I can't reveal who that team is, but I can tell you the city is windy and an L train worms its way around town.
Because the team couldn't figure out the signs, this skipper used claps. That's right, claps. He'd go through a set of signs and finished it with claps. One meant steal, two hit and run and three steal. So if it looks sophisticated, it might not be!
In between all this, the other team is trying to steal the signs or figure them out. Some teams have players or coaches who've mastered this. Believe this or not, I'm one of those people. I can usually get your signs in a few innings. I learned the craft from one of the best, famed manager Sparky Anderson.
If you think you've got what it takes, give it a whirl and try to figure out the hot spots, what touches mean what sign is on and what means nothing. If you don't want to get a migraine, just watch the game.
As for me, I'm taking the baseball code of silence, which is like the magicians code of silence. I just can't reveal my sources of knowledge, even if the sign tells me to.
Rich Taylor Rich Taylor is the owner, head instructor and CEO of California Pitching Academy. He is a former pitching coach at Pepperdine University and Chicago White Sox scout. He founded the West Coast Baseball School. He has more than 20 years of youth coaching experience and wrote the book “Molding the Young Pitcher.” His regular column appears twice a month. Send him an email.
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