Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 199, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 August 1915 — EASY TO GET SIGNALS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

EASY TO GET SIGNALS

Story Related by Charlie Dooi n Gives Insight to Method. Observation of Catcher’s Habits It Baid to Have Landed Phillies Many Victories From an Opposing Team. Former Manager Charlie Dooin of the Phillies, later with the Cincinnati Reds and now with the New York Giants, tells a story which may giro an insight into the “signal tipping" which we fans read so much about. It indicates how a little observation may help a ball club. It shows that it Is not necessary for a wise team to have a fellow with a field glass in center field to know when to swing on a fast one and when to watch the curve float outside the plate. The Phillies were playing in a western city one day and a young catcher was behind the plate for the opposing club. “Gosh, but that fellow has a funny habit,” remarked one of young men to nobody in particular. “He holds his glove in front of his face with his fingers pointed upward for a fast one. He holds the mitt at his knees, with the fingers pointed toward the ground, for a curve." “Well, now, that Is a funny habit, isn’t it?” remarked Dooin. "And 1 would suggest that, having observed such peculiarities, you might have thought that they would be of value to this club. I’ll show you something." Whereupon Dooin, either from the bench or the coacher’s box, watched the position of the catcher’s mitt. If he held it high for a fast one the Phillies’ chief shouted some such word as -“peaches,” and the batsman dug his toes into the dirt, took a healthy swing and slammed the ball. With such sluggers as Cravath, Luderus,

Becker and Paskert at hat the result was a neat collection of extra base hits. - “We used to laugh at that club,” said Dooin. “They changed signs every inning. They watched every move we made to discover how we were getting their signs. It never dawned upon them that their catcher was handing us the signals on a silver plate. It was so easy that we were afraid some of the other clubs would get on to it, and we told the young catcher what he was doing — after we had hammered the ball for several victories, of course.”

Charlie Dooin.