Ejected For Stealing Signs?
SirKripps from Bahamas asks:
Is there a written or unwritten rule that gives an umpire the authority to warn or eject a player on offense for reading the defensive signals and announcing it to other players? E.G. 2nd base runner telling the batter which pitches the catcher calls for.
This is a fantastic question because Little League just adopted new verbiage in the rulebook to cover this. Umpires have always been allowed to eject players for unsportsmanlike conduct and, with the new, clarified, wording, local leagues are now allowed to decide if they consider the stealing and relaying of signs unsportsmanlike. In Major League Baseball, although umpires can throw out people for unsportsmanlike conduct, chances are an umpire will not throw a player out for stealing and relaying signs since it is such an integral part of the game.
Answered by: Jonathan Bravo
Keywords: Little League Rule 9.01(d) NOTE, MLB Rule 9.01(d)