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Pitch-Tipping Is Not Just A-Rod

This is a posting about the latest accusations that A-Rod was tipping off opposing players about which pitches were coming. In essence, he was a spy against his own team. A great article by a former major leaguer frames the issue nicely. And I’ll tell you about a confession of pitch-tipping told to me.

LAS VEGAS, NV (May 7, 2009) – Doug Glanville is a former major league centerfielder who played ten years. He’s written a good piece for the New York Times about pitch-tipping allegations made in Selena Roberts’ new book, “A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez”.

It’s worth reading for baseball nuts and for those who want to know more about “inside baseball.” Glanville does a great job of explaining how defensive players – namely shortstops, second basemen, and centerfielders – can improve their chance of making a play by knowing what pitch is being thrown by the pitcher.

Glanville also looks at the severity of the allegations against A-Rod. In short, A-Rod, if the allegations are true, was a traitor to his own team or at best to his pitching staff.

Yet, Glanville also cautions us about blaming A-Rod too quickly. He writes:

A more likely scenario for how he may have been tipping pitches: he was sending signals to his own team, something that could easily be stolen by a sage opponent. Just as we knew when certain pitchers were throwing a curveball (based on their glove habits, or the way the catcher crouched), or throwing home instead of picking off to first (the pitcher may have turned his front foot inward, or widened his base).

Steve Phillips of ESPN mentioned this the other night. He says A-Rod might be guilty of sending sloppy signals to his own team. For those of you just learning the intricacies of baseball, watch the shortstop on every pitch when there is a runner on base. He will put his glove to his face, shielding his mouth to base runners, and then open or close his mouth in the direction of the second basemen to signify who will cover the base in the event of a steal, a pick-off, or a quick grounder back to the pitcher.

A-Rod can no longer be accused of pitch-tipping, though, since he is playing third base where he can’t see the catcher’s signals.

Pitch-tipping is not new. There have been plenty of allegations that the old New York Giants had a guy with binoculars and a phone in the centerfield scoreboard at the old Polo Grounds sending signals to Giant hitters. Nothing was ever proven.

I head about pitch-tipping from a couple of major leaguers who play in some of the celebrity golf events with me. The telling of the story was interesting as was the reaction from a major league pitcher who was with us.

However, I’m not going to use their names here. First, this story was told to me without them knowing I would write about it. Secondly, I think it’s more important to tell the story rather than possibly malign any one of these players who are now long retired. And lastly, we had had a few libations at the time.

The two players sitting with me were an Infielder and a Relief Pitcher. We were talking about a Catcher who was at the event but not sitting with us at the time this story was told. Anyone who follows baseball knows these three.

The Infielder tells the story which is similar to a couple of scenes from the movie “Bull Durham”:

Before this particular game, the Infielder, who was in a slump, was told by his manager that he was going back to the minors if he didn’t start hitting. He was a rookie and this was his first hitch in the bigs.

The Catcher – who was on the opposing team – heard about the Infielder’s possible demotion. As the Infielder came to bat for the second time, the game was already lop-sided affair with one team way ahead. So, the Catcher while in his squat, said to the Infielder, awaiting the pitch, “Here comes a fast ball inside.” At first, the Infielder thought it must have been a joke.

He let the first pitch go. The Catcher again told him the pitch and location. This time the Infielder took the advice and lined a double down the line.

The same thing happened in the next at-bat. The Infielder got a hit. I believe he had three hits that night. As a result, he stayed with the major league club, never went to the minors, and went on to a successful career.

“I was always grateful to him for doing that and I never forgot that,” The Infielder told me about the Catcher.

And they have remained friends. Ironically, they didn’t know each other before that pitch-tipping incident. The Catcher, according to the Infielder, was helping a young rookie. And he says, “It had no effect on the game.”

While the Infielder was trying to show what a good guy the Catcher was, the Relief Pitcher, sitting with us, was beginning to fume. “I don’t know if I like hearing that,” he said.

Later he told me, if that Catcher was on his team and he heard about that happening, that Catcher would be in a lot of trouble. I’m guessing the punishment might be the Relief Pitcher throwing a fastball when the Catcher called for a breaking ball or change-up. That could smart.

Was that incident cheating or an act of kindness? Your thoughts.

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