I will close with, stealing signs is not cheating. Cheating is gaining an unfair advantage through dishonesty (Webster). Picking up on signs is certainly not dishonest.
This is what I’ve been told was the genesis of the policy. During one of the LLWS games a couple of years ago, a batter was caught by the ESPN cameras looking back at the catcher as the catcher flashed his signs to the pitcher. The ESPN broadcaster for the game made a comment to the effect of sign stealing is cheating, and LL’ers shouldn’t cheat.
Whether this actually happened during a televised game or not, I can’t vouch for it. But it’s just semantics if you want to call it cheating or unsportsmanlike. The bottom line is that this policy leaves a lot of room for interpretation on what constitutes sign-stealing.
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