For example there is a thing called the Rules of Every Game which set for the principles of gamesmanship. Things like "Do your best," "Don't cheat," and "Don't bet against your own team."
Then there are the Official Rules of Baseball. That's the rule book for what is and isn't allowed in the game which by the way does not forbid sign stealing.
Then there are ground rules that vary from one baseball park to another. Like a ball caught in wall Ivy is a "ground rules double." Or a ball hits a roof while over the field of play at a stadium with a roof is a "ground rule double."
Baseball also have what are called rules of strategy. This includes things like when there are two outs, runners on second and third with first base open: walk the batter to set up a potential force out and prevent them from scoring.
Finally we have the rules of propriety. These are not specifically articulated anywhere that I can find but they involve not using profanity but are not specified allowing a great deal of discretion to an umpire. Each umpire has his own strike zone even though the rules state what it should be.
I mention all of these because I want to affirm that every single coach, manager and player are familiar with all of these sets of rules.
There is no wiggle room regarding whether or not players, coaches and managers know the rules. However, they also know that within the rules themselves there is a lot of wiggle room.
To Major League Baseball I say that regarding stealing signs you need to make the rule absolute. It should either be prohibited or permitted. It is the height of idiocy to declare stealing signs a rule violation and then give exceptions to that rule. The principle is, We do not regulate what we prohibit.
Truth be told stealing signs would be a good strategy for the team at bat. You would know what the pitcher and fielders are trying to do. That's what you try to do to counter it and win.
Since there is no rule against stealing signs here what I come away with regarding stealing signs and the way the league deals with it. The trick to doing it well! If you do steal signs as a team don't telegraph to your opponent or a sports writer that your doing so.
So, if the team on defense is upset that you are stealing signs, perhaps they are also stealing signs between base runners, batters and the 1st. & 3rd. base coaches as well as the dugout.
I reiterate, stealing signs, whether between catchers and pitchers or base runners and coaches, is not a violation of any rule! It has been a practice in baseball since the sport started using signs. I have heard broadcasters speak of catchers and pitchers changing signs because the other team had figured out the ones they were using.
Apparently it is how you steal the sign that matters Using electronic devices to steal signs in an electronic age is prohibited. I remind you that you do not regulate what you prohibit. The very fact that there are rules governing sign stealing indicates that is not a matter of stealing signs but how you do it
Now here is my take on what the Astros and apparently the Red Sox's, Dodgers and Yankees have been doing. First, the Astros were able to steal signs using electronic devices in the process only at Minute Maid. Clearly a violation of the rule. (My suggestion is to have no electronic connection with the dugout period). This would be true for all teams. However, I should point out that it is possible to use electronic devices to steal signs in every ballpark.
Second, No team was cheated out of a championship or won a championship because the could steal signs in their home ballpark. How can I say this you ask. Easy peasy, most of the Astro wins those years was ON THE ROAD where they could not steal the signs. Every game but one in the ALCS with the Yankees was won on the opponent's field. The Dodgers lost game 7 of the world series in their own stadium with their best pitcher, Alex Wood, on the mound.
Add to this the fact that regardless of whether or not you know what pitch is coming, the batter still had put the ball in play by hitting it I do not question that some kind of rule was violate. It may be an idiot rule but it was a rule and as someone inanely has reminded us "The rules are the rules." Rules were being violated. Clearly they were (sort of a stupid rule for the 21st century which is all about electronics). The rules are the rules and they should have been followed.
Now what should have been done.
Personally the rule needs to be changed to allow stealing signs by any means or no stealing of signs by any means. Let's get rid of the ambiguity. However, since there was a rule about electronic devices and that rule was violated by coaches and player alike on numerous team there must be a penalty. But was year long suspensions followed by firings of coaches seem to fit the crime. I think note. Fines were in order but no more.
That brings me to Jim Grey, a sportscaster currently with Showtime, Fox, and Westwood One Radio network, as a reporter, commentator, and interviewer and listed as one of the top ten worst sports announcers/interviewers in sports. This guy is appearing on FOX News and who knows how many other sports shows on television and radio crusading to have the Astros World Series Championship revoked and demand that the players return their championship rings under pain of permanent suspension of baseball. This nit-wit is trying to make this issue bigger than it is. It is a violation of a stupid rule . . . nothing more and nothing less. He and his ilk are the reason Pete Rose, perhaps the greatest player to ever play the game is person non-grata for betting on his own team to win. These guys think the sign stealing, a baseball tradition, is a greater sin than gambling.
I agree with Logan Morrison, second baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers who said, "I know from first hand accounts that the Yankees, Dodgers, Astros, and Red Sox all have used film to pick signs,". . . . "Just want you guys to know the truth. I personally think it's a tool in a tool belt to pick signs, but if we are going to be punishing people for it. Don't half ass it."
Just an aside: This must all sound familiar to 93 year old Carl Erskine. When he heard about the Astros being penalized and the calls for them to forfeit their World Series Championship he said, “If they’re going to go back to 2017 with penalties for the Astros, then I want them to go all the way back to 1951 to help us.” He laughed as he said, “You mean in this high-tech world they had to revert to that? . . . . In the commissioner’s mind, it’s probably a lot of garbage he wished had never happened.” Not that Erskine and the Dodgers didn’t try things in their day. Read about it in the Concord Monitor.
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