THE BUZZER

October 14, 2023

Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that believes in dinosaurs even though Carl Everett doesn’t.

Let's dive in

Today's story is about a sign-stealing scandal that went down over 100 years ago.

Stealing signs has always and will forever be a part of our game.

You know what they say.

It’s really about how the signs are stolen that gets people all riled up; just ask the Astros.

The unwritten rule is, if you can pick up the other team's signs using only your eyes and ears, then that's fair game.

Christy Mathewson used to call it "stealing honestly."

The 1900 Phillies were on a completely different level, though.

They were, potentially, the first team to ever use technology to steal signs.

There was no doubt that their performance that year was significantly better at home games, with a record of 45-23 at home compared to 30-40 on the road.

Their star hitter, Ed Delahanty, was batting a solid 80 points higher at home, going from .291 on the road to .371 in their friendly confines.

People think the sign-stealing scheme was masterminded by Morgan Murphy - a backup catcher - and Pearce Chiles, who ended up going to jail a few years after this.

Murphy rarely started, and at one point, he began sitting in center field where the lockers and offices were located.

It was around that time that the cheating began.

Hidden wires ran from his vantage point to a battery-powered device buried beneath the third-base coach's box. 

Murphy would stand behind the outfield wall with binoculars, and if he knew a fastball was coming, he'd buzz once; twice for off-speed pitches.

Chiles would get the corresponding shock at third base and would relay the info to the hitter.

By late 1900, opponents started to notice Chiles' intense twitching.

My guy was in the third-base box looking like Marv from Home Alone.

One afternoon during a game between the Phillies and the Reds, the Reds' captain, Tommy Corcoran, took matters into his own hands.

He marched down the line to the coach's box, started digging in the dirt with his cleat, and exposed the hidden buzzer.

The Phils’ groundskeeper ran out to stop Corcoran, both benches emptied, and ballpark police had to move in to keep the peace between the two teams.

Instead of declaring a forfeit or ejecting anyone, the umpires signaled for the game continue.

They basically just continued on like nothing ever happened.

Then later on, Phils owner William Rogers finally addressed the situation, saying “it never existed” and the matter was “too silly to discuss.”

That was pretty much it - no suspensions, no fines, no repercussions.

The negative publicity pushed baseball officials to crack down on technology-based cheating, but as we know, this was just the beginning.

ONE QUICK QUESTION

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Lou and his brother, Grover Lowdermilk, both pitched in the big leagues.

They both had losing records, but Grover had a much longer career.

Grover was a member of the 1919 Black Sox, but he was one of the only players not involved in the scandal.

After baseball, Lou became the Mayor of Odin, IL.

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