I keep hearing about the Astros and how they were cheating by stealing the signs/hand gestures from other teams. What I don’t get is how it’s cheating. If the catcher throws down a 1 and I know that means fastball, how would I be in the wrong if I rely that info to the batter?
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It’s not. What was wrong was the fact that they repositioned the outfield camera, then ran a feed that didn’t have a time delay.
There are systems in place to prevent the batter from knowing the signs. The Astros used cameras, figured out the call signs of the pitchers and then used a system to relay the signs “live” to the batters. The batters knew what pitches were coming. Text book cheating.
If you are on second base as a runner and relay that. That’s legal. If you use a camera placed in the stadium and then relay that it’s not legal.
What you’re describing isn’t necessarily cheating – if I’m on second base and I see the catcher’s hand, I see a fastball get thrown, and I communicate that to my team, we’re welcome to use it. That’s part of the reason that teams also vary signs pretty frequently.
What the Astros did was kick that up a notch: they had outfield cameras positioned to watch the signs, they had team employees off of the field reviewing that footage, and they had people do things like bang loudly on trash cans to update the hitters on what pitch was coming. So they had a much more concerted effort around the sign stealing – rather than just the players and coaches, which would have been perfectly legal.
The batter can also steal the signs with a quick half glance back. But if he does and they notice, he isn’t gonna like the next pitch
The simple answer is that it was declared to be cheating by the rules committee of the game. Having advance knowledge of what pitch is going to thrown relayed to you provides a substantial advantage.
Sign stealing is totally OK. However, like everything in Baseball, there are Rules. If your runner on second base sees a sign and flashes a hand signal to the batter – that’s totally OK. If your use home park infrastructure to signal some ballpark employee to communicate with the batter, that’s illegal. Just like having the pitcher wear an earpiece and sending them pitches via radio – when the Rules say you can’t do it and you do it anyway – that’s cheating.
* Stealing signs using just your “wits” is fine.
* Signaling those stolen signs, again using just your wits and cleverness…also fine.
* Using technology of any kind to do either is what is cheating.
* Astros used a camera in the outfield giving them a view into the catcher’s signs that no human could possibly have.
* They also used a computer system to relay that information to/near the dugout.
* Then they banged on trashcans. That part isn’t cheating…just obnoxious.
It’s cheating to use electronic means and people beyond the players on the field. If a runner at second base signals a batter, that’s legal. Having a camera operator in the stands sending video feed to the dugout is very illegal. That’s what the Astros were doing.
Cheating is whatever the authoritative body says is cheating. The members of MLB, the teams, decided passing signs without any electronic help is OK, with electronics is beyond being “good for the game”.
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