instruction

using binoculars
observe any group of uniform wearers signaling.

1) catcher to pitcher
a) pitchout
b) pickoff
c) walk
d) lateral setup
e) vertical setup
f) fingers

2) shortstop to 2ndbase with runner on first who's covering on a steal
a) open mouth (yours) yoooooours
b) close mouth (mine) mmmmmmmine

3) pitcher to catcher
a) nod
b) no
c) start over
d) warmup pitch gesture
1) straight
2) change
3) curve
4) slider

4) 3rdbase coach to batter and/or runner(s)
a) bull shit happens (bunt steal hitandrun)

5) manager to catcher
a) various

6) manager to 3rdbase coach
a) various

7) catcher to infielders
a) pickoff
b) bunt
c) double steal 1st & 3rd

8) pitcher to shortstop and/or 2ndbase with runner on first
a) you've got comebacker

translate the gestures in some manner, e.g. a spoken conversation, name three presidents

(tips)

update from chris harrington:

"i was looking at your blog -- the absent second baseman while Hermida is bunting -- and it reminded me of watching Thomson's HR in slowmo and noticing that there were extra guys standing against the outfield wall.

bobby thomson's shot

After doing research I found that the Polo Grounds were the only stadium with a bullpen on the field, in fair territory! wtf? Actually it's part of the controversy involving stealing signs. Supposedly Thomson knew a fastball was coming -- it kind of looks like it from the swing he takes. The book that explores the whole thing is called The Echoing Green by Joshua Prager. It's fairly convincing -- at least some kind of system was in place. Who knows if he actually knew fastball for sure. Anyway, I've watched that video frame by frame, and more than anything else I love Berra's spastic dance at third. Someone from the dugout runs across the infield before Thomson is even to second and gives him a huge bearhug. Part of Berra's dance involves extricating himself from the bearhug to get to home plate. I like the guy with the cigar. Also Willie Mays's back, 24, in a few frames."

[substitute 'durocher' for 'berra' up there.
he's number 2.
and why does he appear to have a mitt
on the ground that he picks up?
presumably as manager, he was coaching third.]

and some background from the wikipedia:

Sign-stealing

In February 2001, Joshua Harris Prager of the Wall Street Journal reported that the Giants had positioned coach Herman Franks with a telescope in the Giants' clubhouse during the latter half of the season, including the game itself, and had stolen the pitching signs of the Dodger catcher, Rube Walker, subbing for the injured Roy Campanella in the playoff game. Prager concluded that the spy had signalled pitches to the Giants' batters, including Thomson, thus enabling Thomson to know in advance what pitch Branca was going to throw him. According to Prager's research, Franks was hidden in Giant manager Leo Durocher's office, which was positioned in the Polo Grounds center field and offered a line-of-sight view of the catcher. A buzzer system was installed so that Franks could signal a player in the Giants' bullpen, located on the field of play in deep left field. The player would then signal the batter as to what pitch was coming.

However, acknowledging that sign-stealing was not made a violation of rules by Major League Baseball, and that it had been a part of baseball since the inception of signs as a means of communication between pitcher and catcher, Prager in an interview with CNN on February 3, 2001, left it to readers to determine if the sign-stealing, which Thomson denied, diminished the stature of the event. While the Prager article said that MLB had formally outlawed sign-stealing in the 1960s, his followup book in 2006, The Echoing Green, notes that the major leagues to this writing have not outlawed the practice.

The burden of uncovering sign-stealers is consigned to the opposing team, typically the visiting team. The fact that the visiting teams won the first two games of the playoff series raises the question of how effective the alleged sign-stealing really was. Nonetheless, Prager points out in The Echoing Green that Thompson hit over .100 higher after the sign stealing scheme began in July 1951 and "no doubt" received advanced notice of the two fastballs Branca threw at him that day.