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In the name of freedom
Managing wild horses in the once wild West
Sarah Haas
Carol Walker of Longmont can tell a wild horse by the look in its eyes, an expression of the untamed vastness of the once wild West. For Walker, the author of Galloping to Freedom, a photographic documentation of the plight of wild horses in Wyoming, there is a sense of sadness in that recognition. While she knows wild when she sees it, she also knows that it is tenuous and fleeting.
"In this day and age we are taking more and more of our wild places away to develop, frack and graze the land, all of which is destroying it," Walker says. "People don't always realize that there is an impact on human beings that is terrible because we need those wild places as a part of our souls — as a part of our lives and our wellbeing and our planet. People talk about wild horses as a symbol of the West but really they are a part of our land, a part of our planet and a part of our wildlife."
No longer an open frontier, the West is a patchwork of private and public land that cannot support growing horse populations in tandem with cattle grazing and other industrial uses. Wild horse populations grow at 20 percent a year due to natural reproduction and the release of feral horses onto public lands. When there are too many horses, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) removes them in roundup events, using helicopters to corral herds into long-term holding facilities.
Walker's book, sponsored by Cana Projects, a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring the sustainable use of western land and resources through advocacy programs, documents the Checkerboard Roundup of 2014 and follows the journey of a few horses that end up in a Wyoming sanctuary against all odds. Their rescue is due to the fight by a dedicated group of wild horse advocates, including Walker and her organization the Wild Horse Freedom Federation.
But the story of these horses really begins 64 years before the roundup, in 1945, with the passing of the Taylor Grazing Act that established the BLM as the administrator of public lands. For more than three decades, the BLM existed as a land management department, a link between corporate cattle interests and the federal inventory of land, providing below market rate grazing leases to ranchers.
By the 1970s wild horse populations declined due to competition with livestock. In response to public outcry and activism, Congress passed the Wild and
Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act (WFRHBA) in 1971, charging the BLM with the responsibility of studying, managing and protecting the wild horse and burro populations.
This role pits the BLM against itself — asking the agency to both lease the land to ranchers and to protect the wild animals that already roamed on it. Since WFRHBA went into effect, the BLM has struggled to maintain a balance between these roles.
In January 2011, the Rocks Springs Grazing Association (RSGA), a southern Wyoming livestock group, filed an injunction to force the BLM to remove wild horses from private grazing lands adjacent to federal horse management areas.
In accordance with RSGA requests, in April 2013 the BLM signed a consent decree calling for the removal of all horses within that area to be removed, not just from private lands, but from public lands, too. Termed the Checkerboard Roundup, the event would have huge implications for the management of public lands in the West. Not only did it call into question the BLM's ability to steward the horses they are charged with protecting, but it set a new precedent for the removal of horses from public land.
In order to stop the roundup, Walker and the Cana Projects filed a temporary restraining order and emergency injunction that was denied by the courts. Walker felt powerless to protest the roundup. Unable to stop what was about to happen, she readied herself to do what she could; photograph and document the imminent loss of freedom and life in hope of increasing awareness.
"I first saw the horses in the book before they were rounded up," Walker says. "They were just spending time in their families grazing, playing and doing what wild horses do, totally unaware of what was going to happen to them. It broke my heart because I knew what it is like in captivity. I knew that they would lose their wildness."
Over the next week of the roundup, the BLM used helicopters and automobiles to remove 1,263 wild horses from the Great Divide Basin, Salt Wells Creek and Adobe Town Management Areas in Wyoming. Fourteen horses were killed in the process.
Walker followed the horses as they traveled from Wyoming to their temporary holding facility in Cañon City, Colorado.
The horses were supposed to be ready for adoption a few weeks after the roundup, but because the facility was understaffed the horses were not turned around for sale until February 2015 — more than four months after they entered captivity.
By March, 76 of the Checkerboard Roundup horses had died in captivity. Some of the remaining horses were sold, but most remain in holding facilities like that in Cañon City. As of April 2015, there were approximately 48,000 confined wild horses and burros held and managed by the BLM across the country.
But Walker secured a home for 22 horses from the Checkerboard Roundup — an 11,000-acre sanctuary in Wyoming. Her book tells the story of the return of these horses to their natural habitat and points to the broken system that perpetuates the loss of wildness.
Last month, Walker, along with the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, Return to Freedom, the Cloud Foundation, Ginger Kathrens and Kimmerlee Curyl, filed a lawsuit challenging the Checkerboard Roundup — arguing that the BLM and RSGA illegally removed horses from public land and did not allow for a sufficient public opinion process. The suit is filed with the 10th District Court of Appeals and will likely be heard in Denver in 2016.
With 49,209 horses and burros currently roaming 31 million acres of public lands, barely outnumbering those in captivity, this case not only draws attention to the magnitude of the problem, but to the cost and methodology used to mitigate wild horse populations.
Keeping horses in captivity is expensive — Walker says that the BLM uses almost half of its budget on keeping the horses in captivity. There is no question that it would be less expensive to control the population than to confine them, but there is political pressure to get the horses off of the land now.
In order to address the high costs of long-term holding facilities, the BLM recently commissioned several research studies looking into the sterilization of horses by way of spaying mares. While this may be an effective and low-cost alternative, the process comes at great risk to the horses. The chances of sickness and death after the invasive surgery is high as horses are unguarded against infection in the wild.
The Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP), a contraceptive vaccine, is considered to be a humane alternative to sterilization by many wild horse advocates. In March 2015, Walker met with BLM Director Neil Kornze to discuss logistical pathways to pursue the use of PZP. But according to Walker, he was disinterested, citing the amount of field work required to vaccinate the mares every two years.
"I'm really happy that the horses in the book are back together and that they are at the sanctuary, but, as you can see, this is only a solution for some horses," Walker says. "There are not enough sanctuaries to take them all. There just aren't. We need to be able to keep them out on the land. Something big needs to change for that to happen — new land agreements, new methodologies for controlling population size — I don't know how that is going to happen, but I am determined to hang in there and do what I can."
Correction: In the original text, this story listed Cana Projects as a plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging the Checkerboard Roundup and as Walker's organization that was responsible for rescuing some of the horses. Our apologies for any inconvenience.
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A full set of hair extension were applied, then razor cut to integrated and then set, from there the fun of design began. This collection was shot for Simplicity hair extensions adding so much value to a bridal styling.
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These are gorgeous! Thank you for the consultation form–I look forward to future posts.


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Introducing Our Newest Cloud Partner… Anexia
02 November, 2020 by Alex Hawkes
When it comes to selecting a cloud provider, today's enterprises have more choice than ever before.
That's why Console Connect is continuing to expand our cloud partner ecosystem and enable our users to directly connect with more cloud providers worldwide
We'd like to take a moment to introduce the latest cloud provider to join our ecosystem… Anexia.
Who is Anexia?
Anexia began life as a conventional internet service provider in 2016 but has since evolved in to an IT service provider specialising in individual cloud and managed hosting solutions, as well as individual software and app development.
Anexia runs its own, independent data centres, and employs over 200 people in over 10 offices in Europe and the US. It has 90 international server locations and addresses the needs of 10,000 active customers.
What type of cloud solutions does Anexia offer?
Anexia describe themselves as a "digitalisation partner with a diverse portfolio that fits without compromises modularly to the needs of our customers".
So, for example, when it comes to managed hosting, this means the company offers custom-configurable servers that are available to customers in a variety of components on a managed basis. Working alongside the customer, Anexia puts together a package that best suits their infrastructure needs, according to speed, size, scalability, high availability etc.
Likewise, its virtual data centre offering enables a customer to determine how much processing power, memory, disk capacity and bandwidth its server needs, which can be adjusted accordingly. The customer also has the choice of virtual hardware, such as firewalls, storage and load balancers, as well as services such as anycast, hybrid cloud and more.
What type of customers does Anexia work with?
Anexia works with global service providers and enterprises through to local businesses and start-ups. It also specialises in a number of industry verticals:
E-commerce: Anexia supports customers in operating successful online stores and other e-commerce opportunities.
Gaming: Anexia's gaming customer base has included the likes of EA Sports, Smashcast and Twitch. It currently hosts a major location for global gaming platform, G-Core Labs, the distributor of Wargaming, and also hosts the majority of TeamViewer's global platform traffic.
Financial services: Anexia's cloud and data centres meet the financial services sector's needs for low latency, high availability and certified security.
Start-ups: Anexia also offers flexible and scalable solutions for start-ups.
How can I connect to Anexia using Console Connect?
Console Connect users can now self-provision private and direct layer 2 connections to Anexia's cloud services.
These connections bypass the public internet, which essentially gives Console Connect users a private gateway to the Anexia Cloud. This means:
Greater performance: Owning the underlying network enables the Console Connect platform to deliver uncontended service across its fabric with assured quality of service and the ability to scale and flex high-speed connectivity on-demand.
Global reach: Connect across one of the largest MPLS networks in the world, spanning more than 3,000 cities and 160 countries.
Security: PCCW Global's private MPLS network isolates traffic from the public internet and delivers stringent privacy and security policies required by today's businesses.
Direct interconnects are currently available from Console Connect to the Anexia Cloud in Frankfurt, London, Singapore, Sydney and Los Angeles.
How can I sign up?
If you're looking for private connectivity to Anexia but you're not already a Console Connect user then register as a member now.
Join the Console Connect Community and connect with your industry peers and partners
Dec 13, 2021 | Alex Hawkes
3 Areas Of Cloud Momentum For 2022
Nov 29, 2021 | Alex Hawkes
How Can IT Infrastructure Be More Sustainable?
Nov 22, 2021 | The Console Connect Team
MPLS Versus Public Internet: A Balancing Act

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Amer: best Arab and regional central bank governor - Daily News Egypt
Business Amer: best Arab and regional central bank governor
Amer: best Arab and regional central bank governor
As second anniversary approaches since Amer assumed CBE duties, DNE reviews important decisions made during his term, most significantly floating the pound
Hossam Mounir November 25, 2017 Be the first to comment
Monday 27 November 2017 marks the second anniversary of Tarek Amer assuming the position of governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
During these two years, Amer took a range of decisions and actions – and launched a number of initiatives – that received strong support from the political leadership and played a major role in improving indicators of economic performance.
As a result of these decisions, procedures, and initiatives, Amer was declared the Best Arab Central Bank Governor in 2017 by the board of directors of the Union of Arab Banks, as well as the Best Central Bank Governor in the Middle East and North Africa by Global Markets newspaper, issued on the sidelines of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) annual meeting.
President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi had assigned Amer to serve as CBE Governor for a period of four years, between 27 November 2015 and 27 November 2019.
Amer previously served as the first deputy governor of the CBE between 2003 to 2008, during which he participated in the implementation and preparation of the programme to reform the banking sector and monetary policy. From 2008 to 2013, Amer served as chairperson of the National Bank of Egypt (NBE). During that period, he led a comprehensive reform of the bank that was praised by many financial institutions at the international and regional levels.
Amer previously worked at Bank of America and Citibank abroad, then returned to Cairo to take the position of vice president of Banque Misr before working at the CBE. He also served as chairperson of the Federation of Egyptian Banks.
Daily News Egypt looks at the most important decisions taken by Amer in the past two years, the impacts of those decisions on the economy, and the effects on the domestic market.
Topics: Central Bank Governor Tarek Amer
Hossam Mounir
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https://wwww.dailynewssegypt.com/2017/11/25/amer-best-arab-regional-central-bank-governor/
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Arrow Video: SPIDER BABY Blu-ray and THE VINEYARD on DVD
SPIDER BABY(1968; Jack Hill)
I'm not really a huge fan of the "crazy family" or "house full o' crazies" genre. The TEXAS CHAINSAW films and their knockoffs are not exactly my bag. I appreciate them(esp the 1st two CHAINSAW films), but I don't love them and return to them all that much. I feel like we as viewers are supposed to find some charm in these psychopathic familial relations amidst our disgust, but I can never get past the disgust part. Disgust and annoyance are my typical response to these nutty families. Mostly annoyance.
The Merrye family in SPIDER BABY is quite a loony clan for sure and not without their own vexing nature. However, I find them more tolerable than most such groups partially because they are basically children in adult bodies. Inbred, demented and murderous children, but children nonetheless. When the film begins, we find the two Merrye girls and one Merrye boy are being looked after by their longtime caretaker(played by the wonderful Lon Chaney Jr.) in their dilapidated rural mansion. On this particular day, they are visited by a couple distant relatives and their legal council to evaluate and claim the property as their own. Things do not go well.
This was Jack Hill's debut feature and it's quite memorably weird to say the least. It's not hard to see why this would have developed a decent-sized cult following over the years. One can see the beginnings of Hill's relationship with the great Sid Haig in this movie and he's pretty great in it. Haig would work with Hill in most of the rest of the films he made and was the anchor of his stock company. I know Rob Zombie is a fan of SPIDER BABY(and probably Hill in general) as he cast Sid Haig in a several of his movies and even wrote a song called "Spider Baby". Quentin Tarantino dubbed Jack Hill "the Howard Hawks of exploitation filmmaking", which is an interesting moniker for sure. Not sure I agree, however I do see what QT is probably trying to say. Hawks made films in all kinds of genre's and did them all pretty well. I do like Hill's work a good deal and recommend that any uninitiated viewer dig into his filmography and enjoy.
Special Features included: -Original 2.0 Mono Audio (Uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
-High Definition transfer of the feature supervised and approved by director Jack Hill
-English SDH subtitles for deaf and hearing impaired
-Audio commentary featuring Jack Hill and star Sid Haig
-Panel discussion from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences FILM-TO-FILM Festival, recorded September 2012, featuring Jack Hill and stars Quinn K. Redeker and Beverly Washburn
-The Hatching of Spider Baby - Interviews with Jack Hill, Sid Haig, star Mary Mitchel, fan Joe Dante and more on the making of the film
-Spider Stravinsky: The Cinema Sounds of Ronald Stein - The composer of 'The Terror' and 'Attack of the 50 Foot Woman' among others is remembered by Harlene Stein, Jack Hill, American Cinematheque's Chris D. and others
-The Merrye House Revisited - Jack Hill revisits the original house that was used as the main location in the film
-Alternate opening title sequence
-Extended scene
-Original Trailer
-Gallery of behind-the-scenes images
-The Host (1960) – Jack Hill's early short film featuring Sid Haig in his first starring role [30 mins]
-Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
-Collector's booklet featuring writing on the film by artist and writer Stephen R. Bissette, and an extensive article re-printed from FilmFax: The Magazine of Unusual Film and Television featuring interviews with the cast and crew, illustrated with original stills and artwork
THE VINEYARD(1989; James Hong)
Until somewhat recently, I only knew James Hong as an actor. He's made literally hundreds of films(IMDB list 380 acting credits!), but he will always be Lo-Pan from BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA for me. I saw BIG TROUBLE at just the right age in the summer of 1986 that it made a tremendous impression on me. It's still one of my favorite movies to this very day. And Lo-Pan is one of my favorite villains in cinema because of it. Hong is one of the greatest "that guy" actors of all-time. If an Asian character was needed for almost any film in the 80s and 90s, he was inevitably chosen. For good reason, he is awesome. I've only recently come to discover that Hong was also a director in his own right and made some interesting films. I saw his film TEEN LUST, a freelwheelin' sex comedy from 1979, for the first time last year. He had directed one other film before that called HOT CONNECTIONS in 1973. From what I can gather, HOT CONNECTIONS was a straight-up adult film which was rated X. It appears that after THE VINEYARD, he only helmed one more feature(a Shannon Tweed vehicle called SINGAPORE SLING). So he clearly worked mainly in the sex cinema world for the most part which is interesting I suppose. Especially for an character actor that has made so many big budget Hollywood films(he's still active today and has a part in the upcoming film R.I.P.D.).
So as this was clearly a bit of a departure from TEEN LUST, I was unsure what to expect. The movie does feature Hong himself groping a woman only minutes in, so I guess he's just all about the sex in his movies. It's definitely a low-budget film sold in part on sexual content and gore.
Hong plays a sort of a mad scientist type dude, complete with bubbling chemistry sets in his lab. He is on a quest for immortality, much like Lo-Pan so it was hard for me not to draw comparisons. The film overall is a mix of elements: Horror, sex and some martial arts. Making blood into wine. And odd and interesting melange.
Both films can be purchased via Arrow's website here:
http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/
Labels: Arrow Video, blu-ray
Kev D. said...
The fact that he essentially directed PORN before this explains some of the awkward weird "Lo-Pan feels up a young girl" scenes.
http://www.zombiehall.com/2011/10/vineyard.html
Awesome review for an awesome (?) movie...
Mad Max Trilogy Blu-ray
Second Sighted: THE LONG RIDERS Blu-ray
Arrow Video: SPIDER BABY Blu-ray and THE VINEYARD...
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Second Sighted: Cronenberg's THE BROOD on Blu-ray
WAC'd Out Sets: Warren William Triple
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Twilight Timey: HARD TIMES, THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN ...
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Favorite Underrated Comedies - Adam Jahnke
Shout Factorized: Ralph Bakshi's HEAVY TRAFFIC Blu...
Warner Archive Grab Bag: SINCERELY YOURS
Arrow Video: FOXY BROWN Blu-ray
Odeon's Blu-ray of BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW
Favorite Underrated Comedies - Jon Abrams
Favorite Underrated Comedies - A.J. Hakari
Favorite Underrated Comedies - Sean Wicks
Shout Factorized: ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE Blu-ray
Warner Archive Grab Bag: Two with Rod Cameron(STAM...
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Inaugural Meeting
Our Inaugural Meeting will take place on Thursday 5th September at the 10 Centre, Tarves Way, Greenwich starting at 7.00p.m. The agenda will include acceptance of our aims, the constitution and election of officers. All are welcome. The venue is behind Greenwich DLR station at the end of Straightsmouth.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on July 22, 2013 by johnp1616.
South Lift of Tunnel Down for 11 Days →
2 thoughts on "Inaugural Meeting"
Stephen McKenna September 6, 2013 at 1:26 pm
Firstly, I would like to congratulate those who have begun the process of turning this Friends group into a reality.
I was present as someone who has used the GFT pretty intensively over the years, so I was pleased by this initiative to set up a Friends group dedicated to the two tunnels.
Clearly this was only an exploratory opening meeting but from the outset we were warned off getting into a debate about the shortcomings of Greenwich Council etc, however there was clearly a core of concern about cyclists in the tunnel that was free to be discussed.
There was a cyclist there who doesn't live in the area but uses the tunnel daily and I think she was under the impression that this would be a forum which would include the cycling community. I'd rather hoped that would be the case myself.
Anyway, she didn't return after the break and I got the impression she may have been frightened off a bit.
Speaking for myself, I think the idea of this group is excellent and it's a surprise that such an initiative hasn't suggested itself before, but I was disappointed to hear cycling get it in the neck so early on.
One of the first aims of the group as set out on this website is to represent ALL the users of the tunnel and I feel that the voice of those who believe there should be some tolerance of cycling should also be heard on the committee and in time I may well inclined to put myself forward as that voice.
It is a contentious topic, undoubtedly, and I'm not for one moment going to deny that there are abuses of the tunnel environment in this regard, but after all, is it not the council that we need first to be having the discussions with?
Their policy of automating the lifts has left the tunnel unmanned and undoubtedly standards of behaviour have greatly declined on that account. Furthermore, it is only they (and the MPS, I suppose) who have the powers to police the tunnels.
Anyway, there is a debate to be had there and I would be keen to see FOGWOFT act as its host.
jillyb59 August 8, 2013 at 7:05 am
Brilliant idea!


Conservation and management initiatives for wildlife species at risk require quantitative targets of population size in order to monitor and assess the efficacy of recovery efforts. A collaborative project between the ACE Lab and fRI Research is focusing on modelling the distribution and abundance of grizzly bear food resources, both plant and ungulate, for the Clearwater Grizzly Bear Management Area (BMA 4) in Alberta to develop carrying capacity estimates based on available kilocalories. This work seeks to build on our understanding of the number of grizzly bears that different regions of the landscape can support and to inform current management programs for this threatened species.


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History Museum at the Castle
Along a busy city street, one that lines Appleton's downtown attractions, secrets are revealed in a public museum. Yet, even if some mysteries are solved, other enigmas lurking in this structure, as the building served a sacred order, and was a gathering place for its members, may be lost to time.
Let's start off with the building itself, which was once Appleton's Masonic lodge. Cryptic symbols abound on the walls, windows and floors,
And stone arches lead to historical exploration.
Did I mention the windows?
Historic structure aside, there are some pretty cool exhibits, both enlightening and entertaining, set on the museum's creaky floorboards.
Right now, in a storybook format, a temporary exhibit shows off past local businesses and services,
yesteryear's burdens
and some past products.
Also included in this display, although I didn't capture an illustrative still, would have been influential area residents.
Unfortunately, with the museum's permanent exhibit undergoing an overhaul, we weren't allowed into the bowels of the building. That's a shame, because it's a fun overview of the Fox Cities' history.
But hey, there was a permanent exhibit we were allowed to see.
The master illusionist Harry Houdini claimed to have been born in Appleton. While those claims are false, Houdini, which was originally his stage name, spent a good portion of his childhood in this city.
So, naturally, on the third floor, an interesting and interactive exhibit awaits the museum goer. This place reveals how many sideshow magicians, including Houdini, pulled off their tricks.
You could show off your superhuman strength,
escape a straight jacket,
make a wand float in your palm
disappear right out of this box
or try many other elements of Houdini's experience.
And to top the museum visit off right, stepping away from Houdini, a small classic toy exhibit, one that features both boy's
and girl's toys,
gives kids perspective on how times have changed.
With all that said, with an admission price of $10 for adults and $7.50 for children, the museum provides some decent entertainment, information and insight. I feel that a little upkeep and updating is needed in the Houdini portion. However, all and all, it was a fun excursion and I think kids would love it!


SFAX – Bafana Bafana captain Thulani Hlatshwayo is confident his side will thrive under the pressure they will experience in their Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier against Libya in Sfax, Tunisia, on Saturday.
Bafana need only a draw in this final Group E encounter to qualify for the Afcon tournament, which will be held in Egypt in June.
"We are fully aware of what this match means to the players, the entire travelling delegation, the association, the fans and the whole country," said Hlatshwayo. "We believe we have what it takes to ensure that we get the needed result, however, we urge all South Africans to rally behind the team this weekend for this all-important game.
Hlatshwayo is confident they have the players to see them over the line and book their place in Egypt.
"Everyone is highly motivated in the camp and we know that we have a good chance of winning this encounter. We have conceded only one goal in five matches and haven't lost a game in the qualifiers – which is an indication that we are doing something right, we just need to finish off what we started.
"We have to maintain our good form in defence, score the needed goals so they don't even get a chance of coming back into the qualifiers – and, most importantly, stay focused the entire 90 minutes plus.


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June 22 Torchlight Tour
The TCPA members-only event began after a day spent anxiously watching the weather. We got rained out last year – but fortunately, it didn't happen again this year, and not a drop fell during the Torchlight Tour we had planned as a gift to our members and to the City of St Augustine.
The brave folks at the gate fending off the ghost tours and receiving the guests – our treasurer Janet Jordan, with her law enforcement brother Paul Jordan providing a firm presence while his wife, Debbie Jordan, also checked off guests – deserve particular mention for keeping everything orderly and smooth. The cemetery would have been the most crowded spot in St Augustine otherwise, particularly when passersby saw the torches lit and the docents in their period garb. Janet and Debbie didn't have to wear period dress…this year…
Priscilla de la Cruz greeted guests and roamed the cemetery taking the photos that you see on this page.
Mary Jane Ballou heroically played the harp for hours, giving guests a medley of Spanish, English, French and American music of the 18th and 19th centuries.
When the guests were all assembled, Elizabeth Gessner welcomed them and introduced Carl Halbirt, City Archaeologist, who gave a talk and explained our newest and oldest burial: that of the 16th century St Augustine citizens, possibly priests or people important in the Church whose remains were found during an archaeological dig on Aviles St.
The text on the new marker is visible behind Mary Jane and Elizabeth. The plaque is not ready yet, but the remains were reinterred at Tolomato Cemetery on June 16 by the Cathedral's pastor, Fr. Tom Willis, and there is a piece of coquina from the Cathedral marking their location.
When Carl finished, John Cipriani, 18th century Spanish soldier, led the guests off by lantern-light to the 5 stops on the tour. He was as always an impressive figure and he came to us at Tolomato event though he had spent the entire day filling 750 rounds of shot and I don't recall how many cannon rounds for the Fort Mose reenactment scheduled for the following day. In this photo, he's taking an 18th century photo of Mary Jane with his 18th century IPhone…well, maybe not.
Our great docents, Sue Barrow, Sue Howden, Louise Kennedy, Carol Lopez and Sister Thomas Joseph McGoldrick interpreted, respectively, Don Juan McQueen, Elizabeth Forrester, Bishop Verot, the Minorcans and the Sisters of St Joseph. Here you see Sue Howden, Carol Lopez and Louise Kennedy, getting ready to take their places.
Carol was at the first stop on the tour and she made it all real to people by pointing out the Minorcan names and their connections with St Augustine here and now. Pedro Benet's marker was illuminated and she recited part of the beautiful poem by Stephen Vincent Benet (American Names) which speaks of the "singing names" of the Minorcans.
Our soldier then led guests to the next stop.
Sue Howden told Elizabeth Forrester's touching story and recited the sad inscription on her vault, and then we had an unexpected treat when Dianne Jacoby and her troupe of reenactors came in and stood next to Sue at the tomb and did their interpretation of Elizabeth's mother and sister lamenting her death. This is something they have done elsewhere, and it was a very dramatic moment for our guests.
At the Verot tomb, Louise Kennedy gave guests a clear and dignified introduction to our first bishop, and then Sister Thomas Joseph McGoldrick, SSJ, accompanied by Sister Joyce, interpreted the site that marks the burial place of two of the original eight French sisters brought to St Augustine by Bishop Verot. Sister Josefa, SSJ, had found photographs of the two sisters, who died in the late 1860s within two years of arriving here, and Sister Thomas Joseph displayed them to the group. I had never seen the photos before, and we need to put them in our archives. Alas, I don't have any pictures of this stop, but perhaps one of our visitors will supply me with some and I will post them later.
Then guests proceeded to our next site, the new Don Juan McQueen marker, where Sue Barrow, the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of John McQueen, told us about her illustrious forebear. Incidentally, she made her own 18th century English garb, which you see above, based simply on drawings that she saw on websites - and she did it in under a week. I think she may have a new career awaiting her…
Finally, John Cipriani and Matt Armstrong (visible in the upper right) led the group to the Varela Chapel, where Elizabeth and Matt said a few words about Fr. Varela and the building. As you can see, it is a dramatic sight by torchlight (although I have to admit that much of the illumination in this photo came from the security lights on the roof). The interior was lighted by candles, just as it would have been in 1853, and the glow spread out into the night to bring this event to a wonderful close.
New Look for Tolomato Docents
The cemetery was open last Saturday and this time our visitors got something different: several of our docents had gone off to St Augustine Textiles on St. George Street and got themselves great new "old" outfits.
We're preparing for our membership event this coming Friday, June 22, and one of our docents suggested wearing period clothing. The idea caught on and several of us went and got our outfits last week. Of course, we couldn't wait until the 22nd to wear them.
Below are Louise Kennedy and Elizabeth Gessner, women of 18th century St Augustine (with what must be an 18th century I-Phone visible in the corner of the photo!).
Another Tolomato Postcard Sighting
The tireless Matt Armstrong was poking through an old bookstore in Savannah and came across yet another Tolomato postcard. As usual, it was undated, although the information on the back at least identified the printer and the place of printing (Duval News Company, Jacksonville, Florida).
Some of the features appear little changed. We see the tomb of Elizabeth Forrester in the foreground, and the Varela Chapel, although with some slight differences from its current state, in the background. The area is covered with grass and it looks as if there is a wide path or cart track leading to the chapel.
But of course, who knows how accurate the artist was? In fact, who knows if the colorist had even seen the cemetery? Very likely, he simply used his imagination when it came to adding color to the photo. And, most frustrating of all, nobody has any idea when this card was produced. But maybe someday some dedicated Tolomato fan will track it down.
Posted by Elizabeth at 5:46 PM 2 comments:


His loneliness and anguish that night, knowing what He did, knowing what the next day brought, is incomprehensible to me. I've known loneliness. I've know anguish. But not to that degree. I have not cried tears of blood or felt the iciness of a world so devoid of God, like the moon as it turns away from the sun. It would be impossible for me to. I did not die for the sins of all humanity. I did not turn so completely away from God so as to become the perfect, ultimate sacrifice.
But Jesus did. He endured this so that I never have to.
Yet we do turn now, and unnecessarily, we begin to feel the loneliness of a life without Him. Recently, I saw a study of the growing loneliness of Americans and its particular prevalence among young Americans. We see high profile suicides on the news. For many of us, our lives have been intimately touched by tragedies such as these.
Millennials and the generation after them (GenZ) are really feeling the brunt of this growing and pervasive loneliness. People are disconnected from their own lives or rather they are mis-connected – they're over- or, even, under-worked, they aren't spending as much time developing in-person relationships, they scroll through social media, double-tapping and swiping left more often than looking someone in the eye, they strive for peace via distraction.
I do not presume that technology is to blame. The interconnectedness of our world now is a blessing. But so often it is used incorrectly. We aren't rooted as we once were. But it is in our very nature to seek out roots, to seek the Divinity that sparks within us, hoping to draw us nearer to Him. So that even if we eschew God, we still look to fill our spirituality. But if not with God, we fill it with something or somethings that are ultimately destructive.
And so in the midst of this growing despair, perhaps unsurprisingly, the people most affected are those who are less and less likely to believe in God or say that God is very important in their daily lives.
Of those responding to another survey, 89% of the men and women born between 1925 and 1945 – the Silent Generation – are absolutely or fairly certain that God exists. That percentage drops to 71% in younger Millennials. 85% of the Silent Generation reports religion is important to them. Younger Millennials? 67% agree. Conversely, 16% of Younger Millennials say religion plays no importance whatsoever in their lives. Only 7% if the older generation agrees.
While those numbers for the younger generation are still more than half, the difference is astounding. In less than 75 years, the perceived importance of God and of religion in one's life has dropped by 18 percentage points, disinterest in religion has more than doubled.
The connection is there: We are growing in loneliness because we are not growing in Christ. But dedicate yourself to Him and you will never be alone. For God told us, "Do not fear, for I am with you" (Isaiah 43:5). With God, we are whole and holy, made in and for His glory. Let not any despair on this Earth make us forget that.


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Tag: Sign stealing
Sign stealing
How Much Sign Stealing Is Too Much Sign Stealing? Never Mind, Heads Are Starting To Roll
Posted on January 14, 2020 by Jason Turbow
We all knew this was coming, and still it's shocking. Yesterday, the Astros fired GM Jeff Luhnow, the architect of their championship roster, and manager AJ Hinch, for their roles in last year's video-snooping, sign-stealing, trash-can-banging shenanigans. This came shortly after MLB commissioner Rob Manfred released a nine-page report summary of MLB's investigation into the affair, and suspended the pair until after the 2020 World Series—plus a $5 million fine for the Astros (the maximum allowable) and the loss of first- and second-round picks in each of the next two drafts.
Luhnow and Hinch, reads the report, failed to "establish a culture in which adherence to the rules is ingrained in the fabric of the organization, and to stop bad behavior as soon as it occurred."
Still to come: punishment for Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who, as a coach with Houston during the time in question—the only uniformed non-player implicated, in fact—"was involved in developing both the banging scheme and utilizing the replay review room to decode and transmit signs." It was Cora who had the monitor installed just outside the Astros' dugout for easy access to the video feed from a center-field camera.
If that's not damning enough, baseball is still investigating Cora's role in similar activities after he took over the helm in Boston prior to the 2018 campaign. Last week, the Athletic reported confirmation from three members of Boston's 2018 championship club that the Red Sox used the video replay room at Fenway Park in ways similar to the Astros, dedicating a video feed to decoding catchers' signals, which were then passed to players in the dugout. Because those signs ended up being relayed to hitters the old-fashioned way—by baserunners peering in from second, mostly, and not from within the stadium tunnel by a guy in front of a monitor—it will probably be seen by the league as less egregious than Houston's efforts. Then again, it's effectively a second strike for Cora, the only person whose malfeasance spans both teams.
Given the precedent Crane set by firing Luhnow and Hinch—both more established than Cora—it wouldn't surprise if the Red Sox followed suit and dismissed their manager outright. They have even more reason, in fact, given that in 2017, Boston was caught relaying information from a Fenway Park video room to a trainer via an Apple Watch. John Farrell was manager then, but cleaning house of all offending parties makes a good deal of sense for a franchise looking to divest itself from scandal.
The entire controversy helps to demarcate the differences between what management and players alike view as legitimate sign stealing, and behavior that most everybody agrees is out of bounds. To that end, when Manfred fined the Red Sox an undisclosed amount for its smartwatch violation in 2017, he clarified that "the attempt to decode signs being used by an opposing catcher is not a violation of any Major League Baseball Rule or Regulation" [emphasis mine], with the exception, he explicitly pointed out, of those signs stolen or relayed via electronic equipment.
That various degrees of cheating are acceptable in baseball is proving difficult for some people to digest. The sport brought this on itself has been a common theme among columnists recently, who have trouble conceding that simply paying attention on the field can pay off in myriad ways while remaining entirely above-board.
After all, baseball cannot legislate against a runner at second peering in toward the catcher, just as it cannot prevent him from tipping pitches or location to the hitter with as simple a cue as which foot he moves first when taking or extending his lead. It is not baseball's place to determine what is intentional in this regard and what is happenstance.
If they're getting my signs, goes the old catcher's refrain, it only means that I need better signs. This is accepted by every big league ballclub, in part because every big league ballclub has players who steal signs from the basepaths. The model works—has always worked … or at least it did until 2014, when MLB implemented video replay challenges, at which point teams like the Astros figured out new ways to game the system. No matter how much care a catcher takes, should a camera be trained on him, opponents will crack his code. And with no need for a baserunner to relay the signal (which can be done via trash-can banging or, according to reports, finger buzzers worn beneath batting gloves), every hitter, not only those batting with a runner at second, is helped. This is why so many people are now questioning the legitimacy of Houston's 2017 championship … and, pending the upcoming findings of the league, maybe Boston's the following year, as well.
There are legitimate questions about the degree to which such a system helps. Some players are steadfast about not wanting to receive stolen signs (even those pinched appropriately), for reasons that have nothing to do with morals. They feel that they hit better when left up to their own devices, and that advance information can override their instincts. Back in the '50s, diminutive White Sox second baseman Nellie Fox refrained from his team's potent scoreboard-based sign-relaying scheme because he felt that knowing what was coming would inspire him to muscle up … and hit a bunch of warning-track flyballs as a result.
There's also the detail that the Astros discontinued their trash-can practice in 2018 because, reads Manfred's report on the situation, "the players no longer believed it was effective." This may have had to do with the advent of a better system (finger buzzers?) or an understanding that the rewards were not worth the risks. Houston's stats improved against offspeed stuff after the system was implemented midway through the 2017 season, but only marginally. Hinch himself didn't like it, to the point that he reportedly intentionally damaged the replay monitor. Then again, one reason he's in trouble now is that he never instructed his players to avoid such tactics.
Regardless, there are ways for opponents to circumvent such espionage. The Nationals reportedly filtered through five full sets of signs per pitcher during the World Series, demarcated on notecards that could be swapped out at a moment's notice to prevent the types of shenanigans that have since been so carefully detailed. This takes time, of course, which, in a league obsessed with shortening games, is not a good look.
People have talked about a system using flashing lights at the front of the mound that can be seen only by the pitcher, and wearable random-number generators to indicate which sign in a sequence is hot. There's always the standby idea of earpieces for pitchers. (Ask Billy Martin how that turned out.)
Also feeling some heat is new Mets manager Carlos Beltran, who was in his final year as a player in 2017, and reportedly not only knew about Houston's system but was active in its conception. Given that no players have been disciplined for this, Beltran will likely skate in that regard. It does, however, put him on thin ice before his rookie managerial season even begins.
MLB was initially reluctant to make a big issue of this—not until former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers came out in the Athletic as a whistleblower did the story gain landscape-shifting traction—and it's easy to see why. Tainting championships is no fun for anybody. (The league went so far as to clear Houston during the 2019 and 2017 postseasons—mainly, it appears, to avoid controversy.) Also, the Astros and Red Sox were hardly working in a bubble in this regard. According to Sports Illustrated, the commissioner's investigation includes Astros players detailing eight other clubs that were using technology-aided systems in 2017 and 2018. The Padres were accused of similar extracurricular activity in 2016, the Blue Jays in 2015 and 2012, the Tigers and Marlins in 2014. This list is hardly comprehensive. Now, to maintain credibility, Manfred will have to give due diligence to every incident that might arise.
In the meantime, the next head to roll is certain to be Alex Cora's. How this affects the rest of the Red Sox organization is anybody's guess, but one thing about which we can be certain is that Cora's fate, whatever it is, will hardly be the final chapter of this saga.
That Time When The Cubs Were Stealing Signs And The Giants Wanted To Mix Things Up But Couldn't Because Their Pitcher Was Easily Confused
Posted on November 19, 2019 by Jason Turbow
What with all the brouhaha surrounding the Astros' banging of a trash can to alert hitters to upcoming pitches, I'm continually reminded about stories I researched for The Baseball Codes. One of them provides a cautionary warning even for teams who recognize when their signs are being illicitly pinched. That's because no matter how precautious a team might be, they can only take as many preventative measures as their pitcher will allow.
Somehow, Giants ace Sam Jones—who finished second in the Cy Young voting in 1959—got lit up every time he pitched in Chicago that year. Against the rest of the league that season, Jones was 21-12 with a 2.54 ERA, and struck out a batter every 1.25 innings. At Wrigley Field he was 0-3 with an 8.53 ERA and struck out a batter every six innings. It wasn't long before San Francisco players identified what was behind the discrepancy.
"We just got wise and looked up, and sure enough, in the scoreboard there was a big empty square," said Giants pitcher Mike McCormick. "Same scoreboard they have today, where they hand-place the numbers. There was somebody sitting up there in an empty square—one foot in the window was a fastball, two feet was a curveball, no feet was a changeup. You let a major-league hitter know what's coming and he might not hit it all the time, but it certainly makes him a better hitter."
That somebody was Cubs traveling secretary Don Biebel, who earlier that season had been installed as the man in the center-field scoreboard. Armed with binoculars, he signaled hitters by sticking his shoe into an open frame used to post scores. Contrary to McCormick's recollection, it was the placement of his foot, not the number of feet, that bore a message. To the left of the square meant fastball, to the right a curve. Just an inch or two of sole was all it took.
This system particularly affected Jones, who had trouble handling anything but the simplest signs. This kept Giants manager Bill Rigney from making the signals more complex in an effort to stymie would-be thieves. So he had to deal with it another way.
At age 42, Giants outfielder Hank Sauer was the oldest player in the National League and had spent almost seven of his 15 years in the big leagues as a member of the Cubs. He knew the sort of things that went on at Wrigley Field, and, at 6-foot-4 and 200 lbs., was one of the last guys a traveling secretary hidden in the scoreboard wanted to cross. As the Cubs continued to batter Jones, Rigney sent his slugger to the scoreboard to get some answers.
"Between innings, I saw (first base coach Wes) Westrum and Hank Sauer and Bill Rigney get over in the corner of the dugout, and they were chatting," said Biebel. "Sauer went out of the dugout and up the ramp, and I told the groundskeeper, who was in the scoreboard with me, 'You better lock that thing up—I think we're going to have some company.' About 10 or 15 minutes later, well, here comes Sauer along the back fence of the bleachers. He walks all the way out there and he starts pounding on our little door, shouting, 'Let me in!' He pounded for awhile, but when he finally knew he wasn't going to get in, he turned around and left."
Part of the reason that the Cubs were able to get away with something so blatant, reasoned Biebel in an MLB.com report, was that "Everybody knew we were getting the signs and we still finished in fifth place."
The Astros are another story. Two World Series in three seasons will do that for a club. Every day brings new revelations about just how far they've been willing to go. Now we just wait for reaction from the league office.
Astros Spy Scheme Outed By One of Their Own
Photo by Roy Luck.
Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of the Athletic have posted an enormous piece detailing illegal sign stealing within the Astros organization. According to their sources, the club placed a camera somewhere beyond the center field fence in Minute Maid Park to deliver a video feed of the opposing catcher to a monitor in the tunnel alongside the home dugout. When the signal for a breaking ball or offspeed pitch was given, spotters would bang on a trash can loudly enough for the hitter to hear it.
Astros using cameras to steal signs, a breakdown pic.twitter.com/rncm6qzXxw
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) November 12, 2019
This is not the first we've heard of such things. During the ALCS, the Yankees complained about Houston players whistling signals from the dugout. During last year's playoffs, the Astros placed a representative in a photographer's well, who kept turning his phone toward the opposing team's dugout. Neither of these activities is kosher.
We've covered the concept of sign stealing extensively in this space over the years, from players nabbing a catcher's signals while leading off from second base (totally legal), to those like the Astros who (allegedly) utilize devices in their pursuit. (Totally not legal.) To me, the most interesting part of this story is a primary source for Rosenthal and Drellich: A's pitcher Mike Fiers, who played for the Astros from 2015 to 2017.
"I just want the game to be cleaned up a little bit because there are guys who are losing their jobs because they're going in there not knowing," he explained in the article. "Young guys getting hit around in the first couple of innings starting a game, and then they get sent down. It's (B.S.) on that end. It's ruining jobs for younger guys. The guys who know are more prepared, but most people don't."
Fiers said that he informed his teams subsequent to the Astros—the Tigers and A's—what to look for when traveling to southeast Texas. Perhaps thanks in part to Fiers' warnings, the A's went 4-5 at Minute Maid Park in 2019—not bad against the putative best team in baseball, and a better mark than they had while playing the Astros in Oakland.
This all brings up a number of issues, primary among them being why, if Houston has been doing this so obviously for so many years, more opponents have not called them out. The easy answer is that the Astros are hardly alone in this type of pursuit, and if another club has its own skeletons to protect, the prospect of quid pro quo (the term of the moment, it seems) provides sufficient discouragement. It's why teams so rarely cry about pine tar use from the opposing pitcher: They don't want to invite examinations of their own staff.
In the early going, the A's organization has backed Fiers … to a point. GM David Forst, contacted by the San Francisco Chronicle, said that he was aware of "concerns among our staff and players," and that "our players have voiced concerns about what other teams are doing." Even then, though, he hedged his bet.
"It's not about it being Houston or a team in our division," Forst said. "You want the playing field to be level. I have to trust the people in MLB will get involved and address it."
A player like Fiers speaking publicly about underhanded dealings by a former team carries real risk. The pitcher is 34 years old and going into the second year of a two-year contract. He's a nine-year vet coming off his best season, and has shown a willingness to sport the least conventional facial hair in big league history. If he puts up another solid campaign in 2020, it's safe to assume that his services will be highly valued in the free-agent marketplace. Maybe.
It's not difficult to picture a team that bears its own secrets—whether it's pitchers loading up baseballs or something along the lines of the Red Sox Apple Watch scandal from 2017—wanting to avoid potential headaches from a do-gooder gumming up the works with something so silly as morality. Suddenly, Fiers' ongoing ability to pitch a baseball is not the only consideration for teams that consider signing him.
Baseball has seen this happen before. In The Baseball Codes, there's an entire chapter on sign stealing via things like spyglasses and cameras. It opens with a story about a pitcher named Al Worthington, whose Giants team was doing that very thing in the 1950s. Worthington disapproved, and took corrective steps by threatening to publicly out manager Bill Rigney if he didn't correct course. Cornered, Rigney acceded, and it might have cost his team a spot in the playoffs. I spoke with Worthington some 50 years after the fact, and his stance hadn't softened a bit. "Once [Rigney] quit stealing signs, I felt good about that, " he told me. "I didn't think he should be doing that anyway. That's not honest."
The resulting story is a great lesson about what can happen to players who place a higher premium on morality than on victories, guys who want only to win the right way. Below is the entire excerpt. It's long, but it tells a great and very relevant tale.
Allan Worthington was a quality pitcher, a right-hander who came up with the New York Giants in 1953 and moved with them to San Francisco five years later. By 1959, he was not only one of their most trusted bullpen members, but one of the most reliable relievers in the major leagues.
Then, over the course of a single season, everything changed. He was traded twice within a span of six months, playing for three teams in 1960 alone, and shortly thereafter quit the game altogether, at age thirty-one. Worthington was neither a bad character nor a headcase. He was throwing as well as he ever had. In fact, he had only one problem, which was enough to sour him in the eyes of more than one ballclub: Al Worthington wasn't a cheat.
At the tail end of the 1959 season, San Francisco was battling the Dodgers and Braves for the National League pennant, holding first place into the season's final week. In an effort to gain an edge on its competition, the club asked former coach and proven sign stealer Herman Franks, who had left the Giants the previous year, to return and set up an espionage system. His resulting handiwork had various members of the organization, armed with binoculars, placed in the far reaches of San Francisco's Seals Stadium to pick up signs and relay them to the dugout. When Worthington first heard about the operation, he was appalled.
The pitcher had seen a similar system over the first four years of his career, when the Giants played in New York's Polo Grounds before moving west. Although it bothered him, he was never certain enough about his standing on the team to speak his mind. In 1958, however, Worthington found religion at a Billy Graham rally at San Francisco's Cow Palace, and from that point forward refused to tolerate inequities on the field.
When he found out about Franks's scheme in '59, Worthington pulled Giants manager Bill Rigney aside and demanded that the practice cease, threatening to abandon the team if it didn't. Rigney was stuck: Worthington was a valuable member of the bullpen, and losing him would be a blow. The binoculars were shelved, and the Giants immediately lost three straight to the Dodgers (and seven of their last eight), to finish four games back in the National League.
At that point, of course, Worthington's fate hardly hinged on the team's success; when the season ended, the Giants couldn't get rid of him fast enough, trading him to the Red Sox for spare parts prior to the 1960 campaign. Boston in turn shipped him to the White Sox that September. Chicago, only three games behind the Orioles, was looking to bolster its bullpen, but nobody in the organization bothered to ask the Giants about their new acquisition. This would have been beneficial, considering that the White Sox used a sign-stealing system even more complex than the one in San Francisco. When the team played at home, Chicago's pitching instructor and former Tigers standout, Dizzy Trout, watched the opposing catcher from inside the recently installed Comiskey Park "exploding" scoreboard—a pyrotechnic exhibition unlike any seen in baseball up to that time. Trout then triggered a light hidden amid many others in the center-field display that signaled hitters to the type of pitch about to be thrown—blinking meant breaking ball, solid meant fastball. It could be seen from both the plate and the White Sox dugout along the third-base line, but not from the visitors' dugout near first. The scheme was incredibly effective, helping the Sox build a 51-26 record (.662) at home that year, even as they struggled to a 36-41 mark (.468) on the road.
The benefit hardly outweighed the detriment in Worthington's eyes. It was illicit behavior, and by the time he arrived in Chicago, the pitcher was already practiced in his response. Shortly after learning of the system, the right-hander informed manager Al Lopez in a hotel lobby in Kansas City that he wanted nothing to do with it, that he "didn't want to play for a team that cheats."
"As a player it was none of his business what we were doing," said Lopez. "But I did say, 'Show me in the rule books where it's wrong.' I told him I respected his religious beliefs. I said I hoped he would respect mine, and that my religious beliefs would not permit me to do anything I thought wrong."
"Al Lopez said that it wasn't cheating . . . ," said Worthington. "I thought later, Well, if it's okay to do it, why don't they tell everyone?"
Lopez sent Worthington to speak with general manager Hank Greenberg, which only made things worse. Greenberg, after all, freely admitted to his own preferences for receiving pilfered signs during his Hall of Fame playing days with Detroit. "Baseball is a game where you try to get away with anything you can," he said. "You cut corners when you run the bases. If you trap a ball in the outfield, you swear you caught it. Everybody tries to cheat a little."
After less than a week with the White Sox, Worthington was fed up enough to quit, going home to Alabama and enrolling at Samford University. The team's official explanation was that he left over a salary dispute. This was the first time the White Sox had been challenged about a system that had been in use for years. It had originally been implemented by Frank Lane, the team's general manager four years before Greenberg came along, as a response to the abundant stories about other clubs' use of similar schemes. According to Sam Esposito, a utility infielder with the Sox, it started when Lane brought his complaints to two of the team's third basemen—future Hall of Famer George Kell and his backup, Bob Kennedy. Esposito said that the pair devised a system far more devious— not to mention effective—than the then-standard practice of having a coach peer at the opposing catcher through binoculars from the bullpen, and manually signal the hitter by placing (or removing) a towel atop the fence.
That type of system was easily identified. The way Esposito tells it, Kell and Kennedy's plan to use the scoreboard light couldn't have been more effective. "It was hump city . . . ," he said. "You'd be sitting in the bullpen or dugout, the pitcher would be winding up, in his motion, and our hitter would still be looking up at center field, waiting for the light to come on. Sherm Lollar loved the light, Walt Dropo loved it. Nellie Fox wouldn't use it. Nellie was a slap hitter, and he was afraid if he knew it was a fastball that he'd muscle up on the pitch and end up hitting a long fly ball, one of those warning-track outs."
"I doubt if there is one club that hasn't tried it at one time or another in recent years," wrote White Sox owner Bill Veeck in his autobiography, Veeck—As in Wreck. "There is absolutely nothing in the rules against it."
Though most ballplayers admit that the stealing of signs is pervasive within the game and accept it as an unavoidable facet of a complex sport, even those who embrace the practice have a difficult time defending those who go beyond the field of play to do it. Any sign deciphered via a mechanical device (usually binoculars or hidden video feeds) is roundly denounced. Don Lee, a reliever with the Los Angeles Angels in the early 1960s, could stand up in some well-placed bullpens and, with his naked eye, read the catcher's signs from beyond the outfield wall. When he relayed those signs to hitters by placing his hand (or not placing his hand) atop the fence, it was generally considered acceptable because he was picking them up unaided. ("Sounds impossible, but he was able to do it," said his teammate, catcher Buck Rodgers. "I was there. I was a beneficiary.") Stick a telescope in Lee's hands, however, and he'd have a roster full of enemies in the opposing dugout the instant he was caught. "Bootling information to the batter through a hidden observer equipped with field glasses is a dastardly deed," wrote Red Smith in 1950. "But the coach who can stand on the third-base line and, using only his own eyes and intelligence, tap the enemy's line of communication, is justly admired for his acuteness."
Even Al Worthington was willing to admit as much. "Sign stealing is as old as baseball," he said. "You watch a coach from the dugout and you try to figure out the signs he's giving to the batter, but it's the coach's job to hide them from you. . . . There's nothing wrong with that. But to spy with binoculars . . . that's cheating."
The White Sox, unable to trade Worthington after word got out about his moral stance, banished him to the minors for the next two years. The pitcher was claimed by Cincinnati in the Rule 5 draft prior to the 1963 season, and after being sold to Minnesota in 1964 spent six productive seasons with the Twins, leading the American League in saves in 1968, at age 39.
Here's hoping that Fiers' journey, whatever it might be, is smoother than that.
Astros Whet Their Whistles While Yankees Fume
Posted on October 17, 2019 October 18, 2019 by Jason Turbow
The Yankees, it was reported yesterday, took exception to some whistling emanating from the Houston dugout during Game 1 of the ALCS. It was, they felt, an ongoing signal to hitters about either the type or location of the upcoming pitch. According to SNY, a Yankees coach—who didn't come forward directly, but was outed to the network by three sources—called out the Astros about the practice during the game, leading to some back-and-forth yelling across the field.
"The whole dugout was pissed," SNY's Andy Martino quoted one of the sources as saying. "Everyone was chirping."
On one hand, sign stealing is a long-accepted practice around the league, with the clear-cut caveat that it not be technologically aided. A runner relaying signs to the hitter from second base might be viewed by opponents as annoying, but his presence means mostly that the victimized team needs better signs.
Take the practice beyond the fences, however, and real issues arise. Never mind that spying on an opponent's signals via a ballpark video camera is against the actual rules—it's also seen as below-board chicanery by people who would otherwise harbor a soft spot for thievery of a more legitimate (ie: non-technically aided) persuasion.
Which is where things grow hazy about New York's accusations. If the Astros were whistling from the dugout, it almost certainly means that they were getting their information from someplace else within Minute Maid Park. Unless New York catcher Gary Sanchez was dropping his fingers so far below his squat that his signs could be read from the sideline, folks in the Houston dugout would have no legitimate way to figure out what to signal and when.
There's also the not-insignificant detail that the Astros were accused of this very thing just last season.
Then, a team employee named Kyle McLaughlin was stationed in a dugout-adjacent photographer well (without appropriate credentials, it should be noted) and caught aiming a cell phone into the dugouts of both Cleveland (Houston's opponent in the ALDS) and Boston (during the ALCS). The Astros claimed that McLaughlin was placed there to insure that their opponents were not spying on them, using then-recent allegations of Apple Watch sign-stealing impropriety lodged against the Red Sox. (Why McLaughlin was snooping on Cleveland remains unclear.)
Last year, it wasn't whistles that the Astros used to signal their hitters, but claps or audible whacks of a trash can. That info that came from the A's and Dodgers, both of whom aired similar suspicions about Houston's shenanigans, the latter during the World Series.
This is hardly the first time that a team has whistled signals to hitters. In The Baseball Codes, I recount an instance in which the Yankees, in a turn, did some whistling of their own. It happened during the late-1950s and early 1960s, and began with pitcher Bob Turley, an extremely proficient practitioner when it came to stealing signs. Turley was so good, in fact, that he was occasionally utilized as a first-base coach for that very purpose. From the book:
Turley's relay system was simple—he'd whistle whenever a pitch was different from the last one. Hitters would start every at-bat looking for a curveball, and if a fastball was coming, so was Turley's whistle. He'd then stay silent until something else was called. The pitcher was so good that when he went on the disabled list in 1961, manager Ralph Houk wouldn't let him go home, instead keeping him with the team to decipher pitches. (Roger Maris, in fact, hit his sixty-first home run of 1961 on a pitch he knew was coming because third-base coach Frank Crosetti, doing his best Turley imitation after watching the pitcher for years, whistled in advance of a fastball.)
Eventually, people began to catch on. Among them was Detroit Tigers ace Jim Bunning, who grew increasingly angry as Turley whistled and the Yankees teed off during one of his starts. Finally, with Mickey Mantle at bat, Bunning turned to Turley in the first-base coach's box and told him that another whistle would result in a potentially painful consequence for the hitter. Sure enough, Turley whistled on Bunning's first pitch, a fastball at which Mantle declined to swing. With his second offering, Bunning knocked Mantle down. The on-deck hitter, Yogi Berra, could only watch in horror. When it was his turn to bat, Berra turned toward the mound, cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted, "Jim, he's whistling, but I ain't listening."
Positioning a sign thief in a coaching box is the primary non-technology-aided method the Astros might be able to employ if they are indeed stealing signs. It seems like a longshot, but, needless to say, nobody in that clubhouse is talking about it.
I collected more recent examples of illicit, beyond-the-field-of-play sign-stealing accusations from around the league for my post on the Red Sox smartwatch controversy:
The Blue Jays were accused repeatedly, by numerous opponents, of similar activity at the Rogers Centre, to the point that ESPN commissioned an expansive expose on the practice.
The Phillies drew the ire of multiple teams—including the Yankees, in the World Series—for their alleged ballpark shenanigans. It didn't help that, in 2010, their bullpen coach was caught on the field with binoculars.
In 2014, Chris Sale accused Victor Martinez and the Tigers of having somebody in center field.
The Padres have had (probably baseless) accusations thrown their way, as have the Marlins.
Last year, MLB responded to the allegations from and about the Astros by sending an additional nine staffers—three from baseball ops and six from security—to monitor the next game, including placing somebody in each team's video-review room. Ultimately they declared that Houston did nothing wrong.
This year, we're getting more of the same. Suspicions about Houston's use of surveillance technology in its home ballpark has continued unabated. "They are NASA," said a major league coach in the SNY report. "If a pitcher is tipping and the players can see from the dugout, no biggie. If they get it from somewhere else, that's dicey."
Ultimately, all this subterfuge didn't help the Astros. New York starter Masahiro Tanaka pitched six shutout innings, and the Yankees pounded Zack Greinke and four relievers in a 7-0 victory.
In Game 2, we saw New York starter James Paxton and catcher Gary Sanchez changing signs throughout the game, even with nobody on base, which is as clear a sign as one can get that a team is harboring some nasty suspicions.
This affair is just getting started. If the series makes it back to Houston and the Yankees suspect that the practice is still going on, expect some bloody hell to be raised.
In the meantime, the Nationals have a good long while to figure out how to handle the situation should the Astros advance. The spy game, it seems, is alive and well in baseball.
Update 10-18: According to Ken Rosenthal, baseball has cleared the Astros of wrongdoing.
Sign Stealing Intrigue Grips Little League World Series
Posted on August 15, 2019 by Jason Turbow
Baseball's unwritten rules have reached the Little League World Series, and serve to illustrate the difference between what goes on in the big leagues and how youth-league teams should conduct their business.
Barrington, R.I., beat Goffstown, N.H., 6-4, in Saturday's New England regional final to earn a trip to the Series. Goffstown did not take it easily. The secret to Barrington's success—or a secret, anyway—said Goffstown manager Pat Dutton, had to do with stolen signs.
"You can see [runners on second base] leaning in, looking in and they're doing hand gestures to their kid [at the plate], indicating what kind of pitch it is and where it's located," Dutton said after the game in a New Hampshire Union Leader report. "You can do that in big league ball, but in Little League it's unsportsmanlike, it's dishonorable, and it's disgusting. They did it the whole tournament and got away with it, and now that's what's representing New England in the Little League World Series. It's just a bad look."
Dutton first noticed a pattern when the teams met earlier in bracket play on Aug. 8, in a game that Goffstown won, 2-1. As Dutton told it, he alerted the umpires, who subsequently issued warnings when Barrington stole a sign on the next pitch after Dutton had raised the issue. The offense is punishable by ejection for both player and manager, but everybody was allowed to remain in the game.
The point was enumerated by Giants broadcaster and former 20-game winner Mike Krukow in The Baseball Codes:
Krukow received an angry response from a number of Bay Area parents after praising pitcher Tyler Walker on the air for launching a retaliatory strike against Mark Mulder after the A's ace hit two Giants, including Barry Bonds. "They're pissed off that they have Little Leaguers and I'm teaching them the wrong baseball," Krukow said. "But I'm not teaching Little League baseball. Their fathers teach them Little League baseball. I'm explaining what goes on here at the major-league level. And if Walker doesn't do what he did, then he's got to answer to Barry Bonds. And Barry Bonds has every right to get in his face, and every other pitcher's face, that doesn't protect him."
If these comments seem at all inflammatory, it must be pointed out that Krukow is an ex-pitcher, a baseball man, whose opinions reside in the mainstream of the sport. He understands how baseball as an institution is improved by the Code, and, just as important in his role as a broadcaster, he understands how those who don't pay close attention might fail to comprehend that fact. It makes for a tough balancing act.
However those comments sound now, when they were made—the game in question happened on July 4, 2004—they were in the mainstream of baseball thought. And though retaliation is far different than stolen signs, both topics are found in the sport's unwritten rulebook.
Back at the Little League level, Dutton did not protest the game, but was profoundly disappointed.
"It's just frustrating to see teams and kids having to go about it that way when clearly they were playing better than we were," he said in the Union Leader. "They didn't have to do that. That's something these kids don't learn on their own. That's something that they're taught. They're coached to do that. Obviously the team condones it, they coach it, and, personally, that's something that I'm completely against. Little League is supposedly against it, but you wouldn't know it this week."
Barrington Little League denied everything, but pick up the below video at about 31:30 to see what's happening. (The exact moment comes at 31:43.)
Speaking personally, I'm a coach on my son's travel ball team, and there have been a few instances in which I could clearly see a catcher's signal from the first- or third-base coach's box. I subsequently implemented a lightly disguised verbal signal to let the hitter know when a breaking ball was coming. It was intentionally simple, and the opposing coach inevitably caught on quickly, at which point he instructed his catcher give signs from deeper between his knees, and lay his glove hand atop his leg to further obscure things—a real-time lesson in proper setup. Nobody on the other team ever took offense, and one coach actually thanked me for the wake-up call. (It probably helped that we were playing in a local tournament and not the Little League World Series.)
This is different from a player peering in from second base after the catcher has set up about as well as he can—a tactic that my team does not endorse. Dutton's concerns seem founded. Now we just have to wait to see if Barrington keeps it up now that people are paying attention.
Barrington opens the tournament at 3 p.m. EST today, against Southeast Division champ South Riding, VA.
Fed Up With Complex Signs, Jansen Turns To Little-Used Tactic: The Intentional Balk
Posted on June 17, 2019 June 17, 2019 by Jason Turbow
In the ninth inning on Friday, with Jason Heyward on second base and the Dodgers holding a 5-3 lead over Chicago, Kenley Jason had had enough. With catcher Russell Martin putting down the type of advanced sequencing used to prevent runners in Heyward's position from easily reading signs and relaying them to the hitter, LA's closer grew confused. With one out, he called Martin out for a conversation about his 0-2 selection against David Bote. Then Jensen struck out Bote with a cutter.
That presented options. With a two-run lead and little concern for Heyward, Jansen took the easiest path toward returning to simple signs: He intentionally balked the runner to third — where Heyward's view toward Martin's signals would be impeded — making sure to shout his plan to second base ump D.J. Reyburn in advance, to make sure that nothing was missed.
Jimmy O'Brien, a Yankees-centric blogger who goes by the handle Jomboy, offered an expert and entertaining breakdown:
Kenley Jansen Intentionally Balks, a Breakdown pic.twitter.com/2cxRHG2hGz
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) June 15, 2019
Believe it or not, this kind of thing has happened before. It's right there in The Baseball Codes. From the chapter on sign stealing:
Trying to hold a 4–2, ninth-inning lead over Minnesota in 2005, Indians closer Bob Wickman came upon an uncomfortable realization: Michael Cuddyer had been at second base for two consecutive batters, which to the pitcher was an eternity. About two weeks earlier, Wickman had blown a save in Anaheim when Garrett Anderson hit a low outside pitch for a bloop single to drive in Darrin Erstad from second. The stout righthander was convinced that the only reason Anderson made contact was that the pitch had been tipped by the baserunner. (When faced with Wickman's accusation, Erstad just smiled. "I guess we'll never know, huh?" he said.)
Wickman had no inside knowledge that Cuddyer or the Twins had done anything untoward, but he wasn't about to be burned twice by the same tactic. Rather than take a chance, the pitcher opted for an unorthodox approach. If Cuddyer was on third base, reasoned Wickman, his view to the catcher would be significantly hampered. So Wickman invented the intentional balk. Before his first pitch to the inning's fourth hitter, Shannon Stewart, the right-hander lifted his left leg as he wound up, then froze. After a long beat, he returned to his starting position. "As I did it, I'm thinking to myself, 'There it is, dude, call it,' " said Wickman. Plate umpire Rick Reed did just that, and sent Cuddyer to third. Wickman's decision was based on perverse logic—given Cleveland's two-run lead, Cuddyer's run didn't matter, but Stewart's did. Stewart, said Wickman, was "a semi–power hitter, and he possibly could have hit one out on me if he knew what pitch was coming." It was the first balk of Wickman's thirteen-year career.
Of course, the pitcher nearly shot himself in the ERA by subsequently walking Stewart, who promptly stole second, giving him the same vantage point from which Wickman had just balked Cuddyer. The pitcher, however, managed to strike out Matt LeCroy on a full count to earn his sixth save of the season. "Some guys couldn't believe it, but to me as the closer my job is to finish the game without giving up the lead," Wickman said. "There are so many things that come into play. I'd have no problem doing it again if a guy's standing there too long."
I spoke to Wickman about it a couple of years after the fact, and he remained remarkably serious about it all. "When it's a two-run lead and there's absolutely zero chance that a shortstop or second baseman is holding the runner on, and you call an inside pitch and see the guy at second going back toward the base, you ask yourself, 'Why the hell is he going back to second?' " he said. "The middle infielders aren't anywhere near him. He just tipped off where the pitch is going to be." The pitcher was less worried about stolen signs than stolen location, he told me
"Some guys couldn't believe it," he added, "but to me, as the closer, my job is to finish the game without giving up the lead, no matter what the situation."
Same for Jansen, apparently, who struck out Victor Caratini to end it. All's well that ends well for inventive closers.
Did The Dodgers Take Advantage Of Stolen Signs In Game 2? It Sure Seems Like It
Posted on October 26, 2018 by Jason Turbow
There are lots of reasons to dislike Manny Machado. Stealing signs isn't one of them.
It's not that he doesn't steal signs. To the contrary, according to a piece by Bleacher Report's Scott Miller, Machado is an active sign stealer, and the Red Sox know all about it.
Just don't hate him for it, because that kind of action puts him firmly in baseball's mainstream.
According to Miller, during the fourth inning of Wednesday's Game 2 in Boston, Machado, on second base, went through a series of gyrations that signaled to the hitter, Kike Hernandez, what kind of pitch was about to be delivered. From that vantage, of course, Machado had a clear view into the signs catcher Christian Vazquez was giving to David Price, and relayed them appropriately to the plate. Hernandez hung in for nine straight pitches, giving his teammate plenty of opportunities.
From Bleacher Report:
As Price was coming set, Machado, leading off from second, would place his hands on his hips. Then, just before each pitch, Machado would begin a series of motions: touching his helmet with either his right or left hand, sometimes then touching or pulling the script on his jersey afterward and other times grabbing or touching the thigh/groin area of his pants.
Red Sox pitching coach Dana LeVangie caught on to it right away, and was primed to visit the mound to inform Price about it. The left-hander, however, ended up striking out Hernandez, and the coach opted against interfering with his momentum. With the score 1-1, it was a gamble.
The next batter, Yasiel Puig, made Boston pay. Machado signaled him from the start, just as he had with Hernandez, and Puig slapped Price's first pitch into center field for a single to bring home Machado and give LA the lead.
"I saw Manny the entire time," said LeVangie after the game. "I knew what he was doing."
This kind of stuff happens constantly, and is rarely cause for alarm. Mostly it just means that the team being pilfered needs better signs.
The Dodgers alone have been on the receiving end of things that have blown up to the point that the media took notice at least twice over the last few seasons, and have at least once been accused.
The Baseball Codes offers an entire chapter on sign stealing, which opens with an incident from a game in 1997 in which the Expos beat the Giants 19-3. From that passage:
San Francisco's frustration boiled over when manager Dusty Baker spied Montreal's F. P. Santangelo—at second base for the second time in the inning—acting strangely after ten runs had already scored. One pitch later, the guy at the plate was drilled by reliever Julian Tavarez. Two batters later, the inning was over. "They were killing us," said Baker. "F.P. was looking one way and crossing over, hands on, hands off, pointing with one arm. I just said, 'That's enough. If you are doing it, knock it off— you're already killing us.' "
Former Boston pitcher Al Nipper described the sentiment like this: "When you're throwing a bastard breaking ball down and away, and that guy hasn't been touching that pitch but all of a sudden he's wearing you out and hanging in on that pitch and driving it to right-center, something's wrong with the picture."
It doesn't even have to be that complicated. All a baserunner has to do to be effective is signal location—where the catcher's setting up. If the pitcher hits his spot, the batter has a profound advantage. Not that the Red Sox were angered by Machado's efforts, per se.
"Oh, it's clean," LaVangie said. "It's baseball. If you're not hiding your stuff with a runner on second base and you're giving them a free view, that's on you, the pitcher and the catcher. It's up to the pitcher and catcher to manage that and to us to oversee it and make sure we're going about it the right way.
"We see this all the time. Not just him, with everyone. We are very respectful of all this, and it's a big part of who we are and what we try to manage. As far as our pitching staff, we want to make sure we control those guys at second base and [that] they're not stealing our signs. We're changing our signs constantly, every pitch. Typically, every one of our pitchers will change every pitch."
This isn't as difficult as it might seem. Teams usually use an indicator sign to notify the pitcher that whatever comes next is the one he should pay attention to. Changing signs can be as simple as changing the indicator. Still, it's a layer of subterfuge that teams would rather not have to take.
We're now at the point at which both teams have a decision to make. Dusty Baker summed up the Dodgers' end when he was discussing the Giants-Expos incident from back in '97. "Stealing signs is part of the game—that's not the problem," he said. The problem is, if you get caught, quit. That's the deal. If you get caught you have to stop."
In a few hours we'll see if the Dodgers do stop. If they don't, just as Baker insinuated, that's the point at which real problems might arise.


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Israeli Occupation Forces on Sunday morning have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque and besieged the worshipers inside it. While worshippers protested the move, IOF brutally attacked them with sticks and pepper spray, and teargas, causing at least ten injuries and cases of gas inhalation.
This comes after groups of settlers entered the courtyards of the Mosque under heavily armed police forces, in a blatant provocation of Muslim traditions.
According to local sources, the number of settlers who stormed the mosque yards since morning hours was 38 settlers.
A few hours later, IOF withdrew from the mosque.
This storm comes after a difficult day of events after Israeli Prime Minister announced the Damascus Gate a closed military zone and cancelled ordered the deportation of more than 350 Palestinian citizens, after an operative that was carried out by three Palestinian youths at Iftar time on Friday.
The three youths were shot to death and one Israeli soldier was killed in the operative.
As a result, Israel cancelled the permits of over 250,000 Palestinians that were handed out during Ramadan.


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But is it time to scale back the Jones Act? The U.S. energy export boom is leaving U.S. consumers behind because it is cheaper to ship oil and liquefied natural gas all the way to Europe or Asia than to the U.S. East Coast. And the Jones Act, long a drag on Puerto Rico's economy, is also raising the cost of all the aid necessary to help the island recover from Hurricane Maria. This expert panel explores the Jones Act controversy and discusses whether it can be reformed without endangering national security.
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