For those of you who think that I’m too caught up in the “old-school” mentality and that I need to realize that this is a softer, gentler world, this one is for you. I’m teeing this one up for you.
I’m sure nothing short of being flogged in the town square and/or burned at the stake will satisfy you after what I’m about to lay on you. So go ahead and have at it. Tell me what a louse I am for advocating skullduggery and gamesmanship.
Have at it. But somebody has got to stand up and say something.
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In one of the 6,000 Little League games that ESPN shows leading up to the actual Little League World Series, there was an incident in the Oklahoma-West Texas epic battle that resulted in Oklahoma winning an elimination game in extra innings, an incident that made much more news than the grand slam that was hit to win the actual game.
In the fifth inning with the bases loaded, the game was stopped because the Oklahoma runner on second base was spotted signaling signs to the batter as to what (or where) the next pitch was going to time.
Time out!
That is not allowed and the runner was issued a warning. Later on, the same thing happened again and so the umpires got together and started talking about throwing players, managers — maybe even somebody’s PeePaw up in the stands — out of the game.
What in the name of Astro trash cans is going on here?
OK, let’s stop right here because I know what some of you are saying — It’s against the rules of Little League!
It’s not technically cheating, but it (might be) against the time-honored Rules of Conduct that everyone lives all the way in every way possible.
Two things I’d like to bring up with that: (1) it shouldn’t be and (2) it doesn’t have to be. Yes, there is a rule against sign stealing, but that it is up to the individual leagues whether or not not to enforce.
Pro tip: Stop enforcing it.
When you read the rule, you’ll find there are all sorts of escape clauses and provisions involved.
They’ll tell you that it’s not technically cheating but when you get right down to it, the translation is “We don’t want anybody to get their feelings hurt.”
No, we certainly can’t have that.
Little League Baseball places a strong focus on teaching sportsmanship, character, and respect for the game. Even if not explicitly banned in a local league, coaches are encouraged to discourage sign stealing and promote fair play.
I have never — and will never — understand why this is an issue. First of all, we need to start using the proper terminology. They aren’t “stealing” signs; they are “signaling” signs. How is that cheating? If the catcher screams out to the pitcher “THROW A CURVE BALL!” Is the batter supposed to act like he didn’t hear it?
When I was coaching in Little League, I discovered the opposing team’s first base coach was picking up every sign my catcher was flashing to the pitcher. In turn, he was relaying that to the batter.
According to some people, I guess I should have had that coach arrested for doing such a thing. Instead, I shook his hand for doing what he was supposed to do.
Lesson learned.
In this post-Astros scandal world we live in, everyone wants to point to cheating in every instance they think they can find. There is a line — in my mind, stealing signs via technology is over that line — but picking off a catcher’s or a coach’s signals is 100 percent legitimate. The whole purpose of giving signals is to disguise them from the other team. Otherwise, we might as well do like they did in the 1800s and let the batter tell the pitcher what kind of pitcher they wanted.
No matter what the age, just let them play. Let them learn how the game is played. Let them learn every last nuance that makes baseball as wonderful as it has always been.
They are simply playing the game as it is supposed to be played.
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com