THE SIGNS

Author

Matthew Garringer
November 10, 2023

Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves baseball as much as Grant Balfour loved to rage.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about a legendary deaf player and the origin of modern-day signs.

We’re all well-versed in the ‘secret language’ of baseball.

The covert communication used between players, coaches, and umpires on the field is recognized around the world in every language, it’s truly universal.

And of course, the punch out has become an art form of its own amongst umpires.

So when did all this start?

It’s been heavily debated, but some people think William “Dummy” Hoy deserves all the credit.

Hoy wasn’t the first deaf player to make it to the big leagues, but he was definitely the most prominent one of his time - and probably of all time.

Harsh nickname by today’s standards, but they were pretty gnarly back then.

Matter of fact, “Dummy” was the standard nickname given to all deaf players of the time.

Hoy wasn’t born deaf, but lost his hearing as a child due to meningitis.

It didn’t affect his skills though, he could ball with the best of ‘em.

Dummy hit .288 over the course of his big league career and racked up over 2,000 hits.

Hoy taught sign language to his teammates, and they often signed among themselves both on and off the field.

He requested that the umpires, coaches, and managers use hand signals during his AB’s, and he was probably the first player for whom the home plate umpire used a hand signal to call a strike.

“Hoy has been credited with initiating the practice of umpires raising their right hands on a called strike. He asked the umpire to raise his right arm to signify a strike, since he had no way of knowing what the count was. The idea soon became a standard procedure.”

According to Richard Marazzi in The Rules and Lore of Baseball

It’s interesting to speculate on whether or not Hoy’s influence is the main reason for our modern-day use of hand signals, but we know for sure that by 1908 they were an integral part of the game.

Ever since then, ballplayers have been missing the bunt sign on a daily basis.

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BASEBALL TRIVIA

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:

Foghorn only played one season as a player, but he put up pretty solid numbers.

After his short playing career, he transitioned into umpiring.

His career as an umpire spanned six years, and he was even behind the plate for the fifth no-no in baseball history; thrown by Pud Galvin. 

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