Joe Mauer Will Do Anything To Win, Including Cheating?
Total Pro Sports - There are not many intriguing playoff races left in the Majors this season. In fact, most would argue that only one remains and it is between the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins for top spot in the AL Central. The two teams met yesterday in a double-header after Monday's game was rained out Fortunately, that gave most of us the chance to get another prime time look at the new Cowboy Stadium, minus the 4th quarter bathroom stall rompfest (you can catch that here).
The Twins won the opening game in 10 innings by a score of 3-2. That brought them within a game back of the Tigers going into game two and Twins' catcher Joe Mauer was prepared to do anything in order to get his team even by the end of the night. That included the blatant tipping of pitches to Jason Kubel.
With the Twins down 5-1 in the top of the sixth and a man on first, Mauer hit a double to put him at second and Orlando Carbera at third. With Jason Cubel up, Mauer and the Twins were desperate to drive in at least one run, and that is where the pitch tipping began.
The clip tells exactly what is going on, including how Mauer continues to touch his ear to indicate a curve ball, or touches his face to signal a fastball. Tigers' pitcher Justin Verlander and catcher Gerald Laird would eventually grow frustrated, calling several time outs and causing some indecision on a few pitches. The end result would be a sacrifice fly from Kubel, which would drive home a run to make it a 5-2 ball game.
The Twins would climb back to within one run in the eighth, but the Tigers added another run of their own during the bottom half of the inning and held on for the 6-5 victory.
Some may come down hard on Mauer for his tactics, but it is a common thing in baseball. Nowhere in the rulebooks does it state that a player can not tip off pitches to a teammate, and although it does seem to be among the unwritten rules within the "baseball code of ethics ," that code will not win you games, pennants, and championships. That is what Mauer wants and he is willing to do anything to get there.
Just be sure to stay away from those steroids Joe!
Update: Oct 2/09 - Revisiting The Joe Mauer Pitch Tipping
I hate cheaters
If you ain’t cheatin…
It is nobody but the Tigers fault for not changing their signs. Most teams make sure to do that otherwise oppanant will take advantage.
Great job – just sucks that MLB will kill the tape at some point today – because Bud Selig has nothing better to do…..
You obviously know nothing about baseball, because players are taught to pick up on the other team’s signs as early as little league. This is not cheating…it is a strategic advantage of the game if you are able to pick up on it. If Laird is going to be careless enough to make his signs to Verlander obvious, Mauer and the Twins have every right to relay the signs to one another. Mauer should be applauded for his recognition of the signs Laird was putting down, not made out to be a cheater! Nice video, but very poor article.
this is not cheating. it happens in every game ever played. catchers and pitchers constantly throw decoy signs and switch up which sign is the real one to throw off the runners. this is what they discuss on the mound, not what they are going to eat after the game or something equally irrelivant
So you wrote this headline for your post: “Joe Mauer Will Do Anything To Win, Including Cheating!”. Powerfull stuff. He’s a damned cheater!
Then in your post you acknowledge the obvious fact that, “Nowhere in the rulebooks does it state that a player can not tip off pitches to a teammate.” You also note that, “it is a common thing in baseball” to tip pitches to teammates.
Only you can explain why you would write about a commonplace, perfectly legal baseball practice and use a headline accusing Mauer of cheating. My guess is that it sounded edgy and cool. In reality, it is misleading and unfair to Mauer, and it is a childish effort to draw attention to your post. * slow clap*
Mauer “blatantly” tipped pitches, just like he’s “blatantly” hitting over .360 on his way to his first MVP. He’s blatantly playing baseball.
That’s an awesome break down…not cheating, just taking advantage, no more than knowing if the pitcher holds his glove a certain way he’s throwing the ball to first.
The catcher obviously changed the signs because of the runner on second. This is customary. Mauer was so obvious in his tipping that the catcher picked up on it quickly.
I think your commentary is wrong. He probably watched Verlander’s grip and tipped according as to whether it was going to be a fastball or offspeed.
I hope ya’ll realize that you’re talking shit about the future leader of the free world, Mr. Joe Mauer. I think Tim Tebow will be his vice-president.
You are all idiots. Turn up the sound. Verlander was laboring through this inning and taking too much time between pitches. Kubel was the one calling the timeouts, and Mauer was only adjusting his helmet. He was not tipping pitches. The catcher did not call any timeouts. If he had, he would have gone to Verlander, and they would have discussed a new set of signals. Learn baseball before you make idiotic comments.
And they wonder why people don’t trust the news media. Who the hell is writing this crap? They obviously know nothing about baseball. The only thing they know is how to write inflammatory headlines that are totally misleading. It’s yet another example of “made-up news”. When I took Journalism in college, I learned that the hallmark of good reporting is “fairness, accuracy, and taste.” This drivel is neither fair nor accurate nor tasteful.
1) It’s not cheating.
2) It’s not cheating.
3) It’s never been cheating.
I’m a Tigers fan and I don’t understand how people think this is cheating or being dirty. If you’ve got a catcher at second, especially one the calibur of Mauer, then you change the signs — which Laird clearly did when he called time (not entirely sure what Joe 10/1 1:19 was watching) to throw the tipping off. Should he have run up to Verlander and changed them? Absolutely, but he didn’t.
Originally posted by Derek – “Mauer should be applauded for his recognition of the signs Laird was putting down, not made out to be a cheater!”
I couldn’t agree with you more Derek. I played baseball basically from the womb, and when kids started throwing curveballs it was absolutely essential to relay signs to the batter if you could pick up on them (Usually first name for fast ball and number for offspeed). That’s why the catcher flashes multiple signs down when there is a runner on. If it were cheating players would not even have to think about mixing their signs up as there would be a rule protecting them from it. As the article states, “Nowhere in the rulebooks does it state that a player can not tip off pitches to a teammate…” This is common practice among players and it is the battery’s responsibility to pick up on this and change their signs up. Yet another reason why I want Mauer on my team when he becomes a free agent.
This is NOT cheating… this is part of baseball. I played baseball all the way to the college level and this was part of the game. I was a catcher and he should have know that when a runner gets to second base to switch the signals up everytime. This is pro ball, a very important game, a must win game. Mauer did a great job and did what he was supposed to do.
Are you serious? Are you a delusional Tigers fan or something? Great breakdown considering he does it on like two pitches. (This one happens too fast, which means a fastball is coming, come on, thats just rediculous). There’s another pitch where he touches his face and helmet, what pitch is that? I think your just over-reacting and trying to out-think the room on this one.
Didn’t watch the video, but noticed in the picture that Verlander is in the windup. He can’t see the pitches being tipped from the guy on 2B.
Totally not cheating. I pitch/caught high school and pitched in college. We used to switch it up on the runner and hitter as well. If we saw a runner trying to signal we would switch to a catchers mitt position signal or a chest protector type signal to call a pitch and then just drop a 2 in the squat to throw the runner off.
I have to call BS on this. This is NOT cheating. If there were an “unwritten code” saying that you couldn’t steal signs then there would be no need for catchers to change up the signs whenever a batter reaches 2nd base. Laird has to either hide his signs better or come up with a new system.
We had guys on our high school baseball team whose sole responsibility (aside from 10 AB’s per season) was to figure out the other team’s signs.
And there’s no way Verlander “threw what he wanted” on the third pitch of the sequence. No catcher in the world could call fastball, then block a charlie in the dirt like that without knowing it was coming. It’s tough enough to block when you know.
Mauer would not have tagged up if he were tipping pitches. If he was tipping the pitches he would’ve stayed on second to help Cuddyer because he could still score from second on a single. On one of the pitches he touches his helmet then his face. Does that mean he’s trying to screw up Kubel? If they thought he was trying to tip pitches, then Laird should’ve went to the mound. It’s the Tigers fault for not doing anthing if they did think Mauer was tipping pitches.
Mauer would have gotten ear holed his next AB if he were signaling Kubel. And as it was stated before, it’s not cheating.
This has been happening in baseball since the day it began. I am a former catcher who did the same thing for my hitters and I knew that the other team would do it too, you have to be smart enough to change up your “indicator” and which call is going to be the actual pitch…meaning if you put down 3 fingers then 4, then 2, then 3 again, you and your pitcher have it worked out which of those will be the call and if they pick up on it you switch it up by touching your mask to tell your guy that your going to the 3rd sign in the drop. This is not cheating, its sloppy catching on the part of the Tigers catcher.
Anyone who says this is cheating is an idiot. In football, if a Peyton Manning called an audible and said “Run up the middle” is it cheating for the defense to stack the line? No. That’s why the audibles are worded so only your team knows what is going on. Just because Joe Mauer is smarter than the Tiger’s Battery doesn’t mean he’s a cheater.
There’s no way someone would try to steal signs so blatantly as this. It’s a great way to have you or your teammates hit by a couple of those 99MPH fastballs.
First to Bob, uh, yeah there is an advantage to being on third instead of second, namely you can score on a wild pitch or passed ball. Because of this, it also forces the pitcher to worry about bouncing a breaking ball, making it more likely he’ll inadvertently leave one out over the plate. The point of stealing signs isn’t to always try and have someone at 2nd to help the batter, the point is that when the situation presents itself, you take advantage.
And, oh yes, this isn’t cheating.
To hit Verlander 98 MPH fastball you aint taking your eye off him to look over to 2nd base. Full focus to hit that ball.
Number 1, HS & American Legion teams change the catcher’s signals with a man on 2b as a normal action. They also hide the fingers so base coaches cannot see them. Number 2, big league catchers wait to set a target until the last possible moment as well as a using finger & hand signal combinations. WHY? Because they expect the opposition to try to steal them. It is part of the game. —- Just like picking up a steal sign. TV announcers need something to talk about during long games.
Mauer touches his helmet all the time, regardless of situation. He does this when he’s at the plate. But then, he’s probably tipping pitches to himself.
Great work, couch jockey.
The purpose of signs is to keep what is going on hidden to the other team. If you can’t keep what’s going on hidden with your signs, then you’re not doing a good job. It’s not cheating at all. That’s a careless catcher who should know that there is another team’s catcher on 2nd and he WILL be watching the signs and giving them to his teammate. Just change the signs up.
Stealing signs…is like pretending your handy-capped to win the special Olympics
FIRST OF ALL.. if he was or not tipping signs to jason its fair game especially in this heated series.—– definatley not cheating!! ever!
SECOND.. joe has ben grabbing his helmet like that since i can remember. he wasnt tipping pitches.–if he was he would be beaned next ab or next day…. and before that Laird would have switched it up. not just touches.
THIRD.. Laird switched the signs on the 0-1 pitch. if joe was picking Laird up he wouldnt have tagged. CONGRATS ur an idiot!!
LASTLY.. stay on you damn couch instead of posting this crap on the most humble and great baseball player and person for that matter in MLB. this is a great man and theres nothing else to it!
It’s a huge part of the game and it always has been.
Most of these people saying it’s cheating have to be women..
I guess using your power of observation and deduction is now cheating..