Glossary

Sign stealing

Sign stealing is reading the other team's signs, from the coach's touches or the catcher's fingers, to learn the play or the pitch before it happens. Reading them from the field is part of the game, but using equipment to do it is not.

A runner on second can see the catcher's fingers and signal the pitch to the batter. A coach in the dugout can watch the third base coach long enough to see that the runner goes every time the belt comes right after the cap. Neither is against the rules. Both are why teams use indicators, wipe-offs, sequences with a runner on second, and hot signs that change each inning.

Where it crosses the line is equipment. Major League Baseball fined the Houston Astros in 2020 for using a center field camera to decode signs in 2017, including during the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and many leagues, from high school to youth ball, bar most electronic devices from being used to read or relay signs. At the youth level, many leagues and coaches treat any sign stealing as poor sportsmanship, even from the field.

The defense against it is a system that cannot be read. A coach who calls a number that the players look up on a wristband card gives the other team nothing to decode: the same number means something else on the next card. Swapping cards between games, or between innings when a team suspects it has been read, changes every sign at once.

When to call it

A runner on second signaling the pitch location to the batter from the catcher's sign.
A coach who spots that the steal always follows the same touch, and calls a pitchout.
Swapping wristband cards between innings after the other team seems to know every play.

Put it on a card: Baseball and softball signs.

Sample wristband and cheat sheet

Sample sign stealing wristband card in a wristband: a numbered grid of signs with the Steal 2nd, Hit and Run and Delayed Steal signs highlighted — A wristband card with the Steal 2nd, Hit and Run and Delayed Steal signs in color. The coach calls a row and a number, and the player reads the play in that cell.

Sample sign stealing cheat sheet in a wristband: the key to the wristband's abbreviations, including Steal 2nd, Hit and Run and Delayed Steal — The cheat sheet for the same wristband: what each abbreviation on the card means.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is stealing signs legal in baseball?

Reading signs by watching from the field or the dugout is generally allowed. Using cameras, phones or other devices to steal or relay signs is against the rules in MLB and in most amateur leagues.

How do you stop the other team from stealing your signs?

Change the system: move the indicator or hot sign each inning, use a sequence with a runner on second, or call plays by number from a wristband card so there is nothing to read.

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