The mere fact that signs are used to transmit information indicates that there would be an advantage in knowing what the signs meant and, therefore, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that someone will try to steal them.
On this date, in 1900, the Cincinnati Reds were playing the Philadelphia Phillies in Philadelphia’s Baker Bowl. The story goes that the Reds had long felt that the Phillies were stealing their signs when they would play them there. During the ball game, that day, Petie Chiles, who was also known as
“What’s the use Chiles ,” a player who, when he wasn’t playing, enjoyed coaching third, was doing so that day. According to the story, as told by Joe Dittmar in the Baseball Research Journal, Chiles ‘ had an unusual twitch in his legs at times and often stood in one position, right in the middle of a perpetual wet spot, in the corner of the coaches’ box.
Tommy Corcoran, the Reds’ shortstop, had been apparently been watching Chiles closely and, during the third inning of the game, went over to the coaches box and began digging with his spikes in the dirt. He supposedly uncovered a wooden box with wires and a buzzer type device. One version of the story recalls, that Corcoran then traced the wires to the center field fence where a man named Murphy would steal the sign with a “spyglass” and relay it to Chiles via a buzzer in the box. Other versions just speculate that the signs were being relayed electrically from a spotter in center field but Dittmar notes that, whatever you believe, Murphy was thereafter known as “Thomas Edison Murphy.”
Obviously, signs have been stolen for years and there is not clear definition of what is acceptable thievery and what isn’t. Pitchers and catchers routinely have multiple sets of signals with which to call for pitches because of the possibility of them being stolen by runners on second. Many Major League baseball players will tell you that they don’t want someone signaling the incoming pitch to them because of the danger to them an error could create. At any rate, I don’t see Yankee general manager Cashman’s complaint as changing the game.
Also, on this date, in 1968, the San Francisco Giants great Gaylord Perry pitched a no-hitter, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals and their great Bob Gibson 1-0, with the only run being scored by Ron Hunt who homered off Gibson in the first inning. Only 9,546 fans were on hand in Candlestick Park for that game. The next day, the teams played again in Candlestick and the Cardinals Ray Washburn returned the favor, no hitting the Giants, and winning 2-0, with only 4,703 fans in the stands.
16 years ago today, Major League Baseball resumed play after six days off, following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon with a slate of six games and the tradition of playing God Bless America during the seventh inning stretch was begun. As best I can tell, no baseball players knelt or demonstrated against America during the song on that day or any day since.
In more immediate matters, exactly two weeks remain in Major League Baseball’s 2017 season. On Oct. 1, there will be 15 Major League games played, all starting between 3:00 and 3:20 p. m., Eastern Time.
With the Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians and Houston Astros having run away with four of the six divisions in baseball, very few of those games, if any, will have any effect upon a regular season division championship.
The two pennant races realistically still undecided, the American League East and the National League Central, could be decided on that last day. In the American League East, the Red Sox play the Astros. The Yankees, the Red Sox only competition, play the hapless Toronto Blue Jays. Should the Yankees and Red Sox be tied, or one game apart, the Yankees would have the obvious advantage going into the final day. The Red Sox have been in first place since Aug. 1.
In the National League Central, the Chicago Cubs play the last place Cincinnati Reds that day while the two teams that threaten them, the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers play each other. Should the three teams be tied or one game apart on that last day, almost anything can happen but obviously, the Cubs would have the advantage in the last game unless the three were tied and the best the Cubs could hope for would be a tie for first. The Cubs have been in first place since July 26.
If you read this column regularly, or even once in a while, you know by now that I have predicted since before the season started that the World Series will be played by the Red Sox and Cubs in the two oldest ball parks in baseball, Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. (I might also add that they are two of the coldest ball parks in baseball and, since the series is scheduled to end on Nov. 1, a series between the two could be affected by the cold.)
The idea of scheduling all games on the last day of the season to start around the same time is one of the few good ones to come out of the Commissioner’s Office in a long time. Should either or both of those division championships be decided on that last day, baseball fans all over the world will be able to see the games simultaneously as they did the last day in 2011 when the Red Sox lost their shot at the playoffs and lost Terry Francona in the process.
— Carl Johnson lives in Sanford and writes a weekly baseball column for the Journal Tribune Sunday. Contact him at baseballworldbjt@yahoo.com and check out his blog at baseballworldbjt.com.
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