[Choi Min-gyu's Baseball Prism] When Disabled and Non-disabled People Come Together, Something Wonderful Emerges

Deaf American Baseball Player Hoi Inspires Umpire's Hand Sign Development
Finding the Sign Inventor as Complex as Finding the Inventor of Fire
Interaction Between Disabled and Non-Disabled Baseball Players... Sign Language Introduced as Hand Sign Form

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The catcher sits down, lowers his bare right hand (without the mitt) and extends his index finger. This is the signal to ‘throw a fastball.’ Two fingers mean a curveball, three mean a slider, and four mean a changeup. The pitch types can vary depending on the agreement between the pitcher and catcher.

The system of sending signs using hand gestures has long been used in baseball. It is used not only for communicating pitch types between the pitcher and catcher but also for directing fielders from the bench. Offensive strategies such as sacrifice bunts, steals, and hit-and-run plays are also conveyed through signs via the base coaches to the batter or runner. Umpires also use their hands to call strikes, balls, outs, and safes.

Lawrence Ritter, former dean of the New York University Stern School of Business, published a book in 1966 containing interviews with twenty-three early famous baseball players. It was introduced in Korea under the title The Glory of Their Times. In this book, Sam Crawford, who recorded 2,961 hits in his Major League Baseball career, said that the umpire hand sign system was developed because of one baseball player.

Crawford debuted in the Major Leagues in 1899 with the Cincinnati Reds. In 1902, William Hoy, a forty-year-old veteran, transferred to the Chicago White Sox. He was more often called ‘Dummy’ than by his real name. The term meant ‘fool’ and was a slang word at the time for the hearing impaired.

Hoy recorded 596 stolen bases in his Major League career. He was also an excellent center fielder, once throwing out three runners at home plate in a single game. However, because his vocal sounds were not loud, Crawford, who was the right fielder, had to listen carefully to Hoy’s sounds when the ball was hit to the outfield. Crawford recalled, “Only a few people know this, but the umpire’s gesture of raising his right hand to signal a strike started because of Dummy. Hoy couldn’t speak or hear. He couldn’t understand the umpire’s calls. That’s why hand signs came about.”

Crawford was not a historian. Hoy was not the first hearing-impaired player in the Major Leagues. Phil Hines debuted in 1872, and Ed Dundon in 1883. According to contemporary media reports, Hall of Fame umpire Bill Klem used hand signs to call strikes and balls for Hines. Dundon, who pitched in the Major Leagues from 1883 to 1884, made hand signals to call balls during a game two years later while umpiring.

According to expert opinions, the origin of hand signs is complex. Baseball historian Paul Dickson wrote in his 2019 book, “Finding the inventor of signs is like finding the inventor of fire.” He believed that ship flag signals and battlefield hand signals influenced the invention and spread of hand signs. The military hand signals used during the Civil War (1861?1865), which broke out sixteen years after the first baseball game, may have been one of these influences. The Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first professional baseball team, already had a system for catchers to send signs to pitchers and infielders in their inaugural year of 1869.

Hearing-impaired people also had a significant impact on hand signs. Baseball grew into the national sport in the United States in the late 19th century. According to research by SABR members Jamie Fisher and Randy Fisher, baseball was popular among the hearing impaired during this period. The first hearing-impaired baseball started in Ohio in 1865. Players communicated during games using American Sign Language (ASL). Their view is that hearing-impaired people interacting with non-disabled people through baseball naturally introduced sign language in the form of hand signs. For example, the umpire’s out sign resembles the ASL sign for ‘out.’ The safe sign, made by extending both arms with palms down, is similar to the sign for ‘free.’

Hoy debuted in the Major Leagues with the Washington Nationals in 1888. The previous year (1887), the National League changed the baseball rules and installed coach boxes near first and third bases. Before that, coaches wandered outside the foul lines like scouts, giving instructions to players. In his rookie season, Hoy read the umpire’s ball calls by lip-reading after the pitch came in. However, finding it difficult, he swung at the earliest possible ball count. The Washington coaching staff developed a new sign system for the left-handed Hoy. The third base coach signaled strikes by pointing the right middle finger and balls by pointing the left middle finger.

The idea that this system could be applied to other batters likely arose naturally. Dickson believes Hoy’s case greatly influenced the invention of the sign transmission system from managers to coaches to players. Connie Mack, who managed for a record 53 years in Major League history, was Hoy’s fellow catcher in 1888. Mack devised a pickoff sign using his hand to the pitcher that year. At the time, the concept of pickoffs to prevent stolen bases did not exist. Hoy thus influenced baseball’s transformation into a more tactical game.

Hoy retired after the 1902 season. Six years later, in 1908, Major League Baseball changed its rules to require all umpires to use hand signals for calling strikes and balls. This was a kind of ‘service’ for hearing-impaired players that expanded to the entire sport. Scoreboards existed in ballparks at the time, but there were no facilities to indicate balls, strikes, or out counts. Both players and spectators benefited from signs they could see instead of the umpire’s unclear voice. Umpires could also protect their vocal cords.

In Hoy’s era, American society was much more hostile to people with disabilities than today. Attacks on the disabled community were widespread. Hoy was a star player but was often booed and mocked. Though he played smarter than anyone, his nickname was ‘Dummy.’ He was told, “You are not one of ‘us.’” Yet even then, when disabled and non-disabled people mingled together in the same place?the baseball field?something wonderful emerged.

Director, Korean Baseball Society