About the 'Itch Thing'

The 2016 pro baseball season is just underway and last Friday April 15th. I watched the New York Yankees get bombed by the Seattle Mariners in New York, 7 to 1. Great game with a few new rules but couldn’t help noticing one of the most important rituals is still an integral part of the “great American pastime.” Did deep research on that matter in 1993 that is something all fans should understand:

During televised games, how do the players know when to start scratching themselves? There’s gotta be an explanation and I may have it.

If a TV camera is pointed at someone a red light comes on … that’s the signal meaning “you are live on camera.” Average people seeing the red light wilt like dehydrated petunias, or they go into antics indicating they’re using something listed under the narcotics laws. We can observe this phenomenon when sports cameras focus on the crowd. The exceptions to this behavior are baseball players. They scratch the front of their pants.

One mystery is the fact the camera can be out of the player’s view but he will still know to start scratching the minute it is on him. He can be on first base concentrating on every move of the pitcher, but let the camera swing in his direction and down goes the hand. The itchy place is never ever his head, chest, stomach, arm, back or leg.

One of my friends who plays semi-pro ball for Pocatella says the “third base coach” is now the one who transmits the “scratch signal.” He says this is done so players will concentrate on the game, know if the squeeze is on, and indicate they are alert to everything. On defense, he says, they just automatically know to scratch after making any kind of play … whether it was muffing a slow grounder or making a spectacular catch up against the fence.

My friend also says after the contest is over, the guys make fun of any player who went through the game and didn’t scratch on TV. They know the score because the official statisticians now enter OCS’s (On Camera Scratches) in the books. He believes within a  few years OCS’S will be used right along with RBI’s and HR’s in choosing players for the All Star Game.

I have to report things as I see and hear ‘em, so I hope this subject hasnt rubbed anyone the wrong way.

G. George Ostrom is a national award-winning columnist for Hungry Horse News. He lives in Kalispell.