From
www.blessyouboys.com, "7 Unwritten rules of baseball"
6. Thou Shalt Most Definitely Not Steal Signs at the Plate
This is the exception to the rule. If you can stand at second base as a runner and decode the catcher's signs, you're cool, but if you're in the batter's box, you'd better keep your bleeping eyes forward and not be glancing back at the catcher's hands.
There is a hilarious story about Jose Nunez's (Blue Jays) first at-bat in a 1988 spring training game against Philadelphia, during which he blatantly turned his head around to see what sign Lance Parrish (yes, that Lance Parrish) was giving the pitcher. Parrish blurted out, "What are you doing?", to which a very naive Nunez admitted, "I want to see the signs."
The at-bat carried on, with Parrish taking requests from Nunez ("A fastball ... that one was too fast, can I have a changeup next?") until Nunez finally grounded out, by which point Parrish, his pitcher, and the umpire were all rolling on the ground and howling.
Redid the facegen. Took me a while to find something to write about Jose, but it was worth the wait. The taking requests part kills me
