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Stealing signals

That's gamesmanship IMO. Same in just about every sport. I'd always be watching in baseball trying to figure out the other teams signs in the hope that we could know their plan. Anymore, you can't really do that from college and up since most teams are using electronic methods now. Probably only a matter of time until football goes that way too
 
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That's gamesmanship IMO. Same in just about every sport. I'd always be watching in baseball trying to figure out the other teams signs in the hope that we could know their plan. Anymore, you can't really do that from college and up since most teams are using electronic methods now. Probably only a matter of time until football goes that way too
I agree. I think sign stealing is a part of competition. But I do think there are limits to sign stealing too.

In the traditional sense … I’m trying to decipher your signals … I’m fine with it. And the reason I’m ok with it is … well, you look for gives within the game as it is … positioning, eyes/looks, it’s all cat and mouse and I consider signs the same way. If you misinterpret … it can backfire big time, so there is risk, too.

Using different camera angles, sensitive mics, electronics or non-team personnel to convey things back, no, not a fan. At all. That’s cheating.

It should be “natural” or at least “traditional”.
 
I agree. I think sign stealing is a part of competition. But I do think there are limits to sign stealing too.

In the traditional sense … I’m trying to decipher your signals … I’m fine with it. And the reason I’m ok with it is … well, you look for gives within the game as it is … positioning, eyes/looks, it’s all cat and mouse and I consider signs the same way. If you misinterpret … it can backfire big time, so there is risk, too.

Using different camera angles, sensitive mics, electronics or non-team personnel to convey things back, no, not a fan. At all. That’s cheating.

It should be “natural” or at least “traditional”.
Agreed. using electronics and cameras/mics, etc is cheating. I feel like in the next 5-10 years, there will be no need for signs in sports though, but instead, teams will have earpieces, bracelets, etc, that convey the plays.
 
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Personally I think they should hire a few students or fans, involve them as part of the team, dress them up a coaches on game day and let them hold random posters with images on the sidelines every week just to throw the other teams off. Its crazy that teams can decipher the 6 image combinations and read the plays, now image adding 3 random fans that just have a binder full of images that mean nothing and associate with nothing but look legit along side the official play call...
 
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Personally I think they should hire a few students or fans, involve them as part of the team, dress them up a coaches on game day and let them hold random posters with images on the sidelines every week just to throw the other teams off. Its crazy that teams can decipher the 6 image combinations and read the plays, now image adding 3 random fans that just have a binder full of images that mean nothing and associate with nothing but look legit along side the official play call...
Decoys are always a part of it. I can’t recall when we first started using decoys - I believe we were 12 years old when we started.
 
Decoys are always a part of it. I can’t recall when we first started using decoys - I believe we were 12 years old when we started.
Reading signs/signals started in Little League and pre-high school basketball for me. By the time we got to high school, looking for tells, signs, and deciphering decoys became required learning. In baseball, if you weren't pitching that day, you better be watching the opposing coaches (third base, HC and pitching coach), as well as pitchers, to try to get a read. Chambers would love you when you pointed something out to him.
 
Reading signs/signals started in Little League and pre-high school basketball for me. By the time we got to high school, looking for tells, signs, and deciphering decoys became required learning. In baseball, if you weren't pitching that day, you better be watching the opposing coaches (third base, HC and pitching coach), as well as pitchers, to try to get a read. Chambers would love you when you pointed something out to him.
You don’t know how much I love that shit. The precision nature of hitting the ball, grip and spin of a pitcher, the ballet feet when turning two, the strategy and positioning/scouting reports - that’s what makes the game so amazing to me … toss in the cat and mouse between pitcher hitter, fielder/hitter, baserunner/pitcher/catcher … and now coding/signs/misdirection … I mean, all sports have some of those elements to some degree, but baseball maximizes it all. When they say “student of the game”, baseball is the astrophysics of sports. Love it, I always will, for all those elements which go far beyond skill and strength.

I understand why people don’t enjoy the game. But when they don’t, my very first thought is you don’t really understand the game … you might get the rules and generalities, but you don’t get the depth.
 
I understand why people don’t enjoy the game. But when they don’t, my very first thought is you don’t really understand the game … you might get the rules and generalities, but you don’t get the depth.
My feelings exactly. I love all competition and the vast majority of sports but there is something about baseball that I can't explain. Last Monday, NYM's Alvarez's walk off against the Oriels got me out of my seat. It's a baseball game on a Monday evening in August. Not many sports can make me do that.

I mean...


Cat and Mouse. Alvarez sitting fastball on a 3-0 count and just turning on it. Thing of beauty.
 
My feelings exactly. I love all competition and the vast majority of sports but there is something about baseball that I can't explain. Last Monday, NYM's Alvarez's walk off against the Oriels got me out of my seat. It's a baseball game on a Monday evening in August. Not many sports can make me do that.

I mean...


Cat and Mouse. Alvarez sitting fastball on a 3-0 count and just turning on it. Thing of beauty.
Agreed, love it. I used to do that any time I got to pinch hit. A lot of pinch hitters will take the first pitch to get a feel for the game and see the ball. Nah, I'm not doing that. I'd get his fastball timed up in the dugout or on deck, and if I got a first pitch fastball, I'm taking a healthy cut. Dropped a couple bombs on pinch hit 1st pitch FB's back in the day.
 
Agreed, love it. I used to do that any time I got to pinch hit. A lot of pinch hitters will take the first pitch to get a feel for the game and see the ball. Nah, I'm not doing that. I'd get his fastball timed up in the dugout or on deck, and if I got a first pitch fastball, I'm taking a healthy cut. Dropped a couple bombs on pinch hit 1st pitch FB's back in the day.
Could you’d still hit one 300 plus on a 92 mph fast ball? Curious as to how long it takes you to adapt now.

I haven’t hit cages for 10+ years now. I didn’t have shit for power, was a slap hitter. But at 40, it took some loosening up and a few pitches … I could still make solid contact with 90 mph.

But that’s a cage, I’m not worried about getting it. Can dig in as much as you want. Makes a huge difference, actual comfort in the box. Then it’s just getting the timing down. Not worried about it getting in on my hands too much, you know you’ll be able to get the extension you need and you can really measure it with complete confidence.

Machines are easy. Humans are not.
 
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Could you’d still hit one 300 plus on a 92 mph fast ball? Curious as to how long it takes you to adapt now.

I haven’t hit cages for 10+ years now. I didn’t have shit for power, was a slap hitter. But at 40, it took some loosening up and a few pitches … I could still make solid contact with 90 mph.

But that’s a cage, I’m not worried about getting it. Can dig in as much as you want. Makes a huge difference, actual comfort in the box. Then it’s just getting the timing down. Not worried about it getting in on my hands too much, you know you’ll be able to get the extension you need and you can really measure it with complete confidence.

Machines are easy. Humans are not.
Lol, not likely. At least not consistently. I haven't seen a live pitch in a long time, so my timing would be way off and my bat speed isn't close to what it used to be. Definitely would be easier against an iron mike in a batting cage than off of a live pitcher, where the ball moves, as well as just worrying about the location (in/out/up/down).

I guess if I knew for sure that the pitcher was throwing a fastball, I could probably time it up decent enough to make some good contact. But that's the problem, you don't know what pitch is coming or where it will be.
 
Stealing Broad City GIF by First We Feast
 
3-0 count. Would you green light him?

Ron Darling: I would not...become a baserunner.

3....2.....1 BOMB over centerfield wall.
 
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3-0 count. Would you green light him?

Ron Darling: I would not...become a baserunner.

3....2.....1 BOMB over centerfield wall.
I was always lead off or hit second, bat control and quickness (top speed was above average but not blazing, but really strong first steps, just good feet in general).

3-0, I was almost always taking regardless of the sign. I wasn’t going to put it out of the park, that just wasn’t me. And I wasn’t going to strike out either, so taking a strike or two wasn’t a big deal.

I do recall one time though - hitting away on 3-0 because we were up 15-0 or something like that and it was the last inning. Freaking submarine type pitcher … can’t recall his name, but can still see his face … I think his last name was Jensen …. Best shot I ever hit, left center field, halfway up the fence at Legion Field (Sunset Park) … it was the lone field out there just off Eastern, it’s no longer there, that particular field. Legion was a rather large field, too, I think 320 down the lines. I popped it good. Missed it by thaaaaat much.

I did drop some over the fence during All Star practices back in the day because I didn’t want to look like the only wimp who couldn’t do it. But it wasn’t my comfort zone and quite frankly, my job was to get on base.

I did make up my mind one other time to try and put it out of the park because the pitcher was pure meat. The fkn fat lefty drilled me in the back. I dug in tight on that pitch and he drilled me. I was so pissed off. I finally made up my mind to try and poke one and he drills me on the first pitch. Fat John Kruk looking bastard. Of course, I got tossed because I charged the mound. Didn’t get any shots in, was tackled by the third baseman (a good friend). Then got into it again during the handshake line. I can be a hothead sometimes.
 
You don’t know how much I love that shit. The precision nature of hitting the ball, grip and spin of a pitcher, the ballet feet when turning two, the strategy and positioning/scouting reports - that’s what makes the game so amazing to me … toss in the cat and mouse between pitcher hitter, fielder/hitter, baserunner/pitcher/catcher … and now coding/signs/misdirection … I mean, all sports have some of those elements to some degree, but baseball maximizes it all. When they say “student of the game”, baseball is the astrophysics of sports. Love it, I always will, for all those elements which go far beyond skill and strength.

I understand why people don’t enjoy the game. But when they don’t, my very first thought is you don’t really understand the game … you might get the rules and generalities, but you don’t get the depth.
That's why I posted that Maddux clip. He was a mad scientist!
 
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When I walked on at Utah St(‘95) they had the deaf guy(Curtis Radford) on the team with tiny binoculars on the sideline looking across the field as he could lip read what people would say, who knows if it really helped or not.
 
Personally I think they should hire a few students or fans, involve them as part of the team, dress them up a coaches on game day and let them hold random posters with images on the sidelines every week just to throw the other teams off. Its crazy that teams can decipher the 6 image combinations and read the plays, now image adding 3 random fans that just have a binder full of images that mean nothing and associate with nothing but look legit along side the official play call...
How about we have RBX or Suge Knight on the sidelines giving out cash after a good play?
 
I played against Greg when I was at Bonanza and he was at Western and knew him at USU also.
One of my favorite persons on the planet earth. He was my older sister’s age and friend but I just thought he was a crazy cool guy. I e became friends later in life.

Talented, smart mofo.
 
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One of my favorite persons on the planet earth. He was my older sister’s age and friend but I just thought he was a crazy cool guy. I e became friends later in life.

Talented, smart mofo.
Yeah he is a very down to earth and friendly guy.
 
I was there until ‘99, did one year of football and three years of track. I knew Mark pretty well and knew who Tony was, but didn’t know him as a friend.
My brother who played at UNLV grew up with Tony, best friends from Elementary school on. Tonys son plays at Cal Poly now. Mark was I believe a year older than my brother and Tony they played together in HS. Tony was Big West Defensive POY he went to camp with the Steelers played in each exhibition game but didn’t make the final roster.
 
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