# Baseball: Umpires "Pulling the chains" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 25, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-umpires-pulling-the-chains/184328 "2003-06-25T17:55:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rattlehead02](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rattlehead02/32/3944_2.png) [@Rattlehead02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rattlehead02)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-umpires-pulling-the-chains/184328/1 "2003-06-25T17:55:24Z")
After strike three, in the majors at least, the umpire “pulls the chains”. Why is it called pulling the chains, and why does he do it? I’m guessing there is some history behind it. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-umpires-pulling-the-chains/184328/2 "2003-06-25T19:57:42Z")
I guess your referring to the ‘yer out’ motion of the clinched hand? Well, it looks like a chain pull… But where it got started…will need to be researched. ---
**Author:** ![Rattlehead02](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rattlehead02/32/3944_2.png) [@Rattlehead02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rattlehead02)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-umpires-pulling-the-chains/184328/3 "2003-06-25T20:54:45Z")
> [@](#): > > I guess your referring to the ‘yer out’ motion of the clinched hand? Exactly. In fact, I was informed, after starting this thread, that they “pull the chains” anytime there is an out. The best guess I can come up with, and it’s not even my guess, I stole it from a friend, is that it started out with the ump pointing with his thumb to the batters dug out as in “get yer ass back to the dug out.” But over time it became more pronounced to make it easier for the manager and fans to see what the call was. Just a guess. ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-umpires-pulling-the-chains/184328/4 "2003-06-25T21:17:14Z")
Most of the time I’ve seen umpires use completely different hand motions for strikeouts vs. other outs. A strikeout usually results in the home plate umpire making some motion with both arms pointing out away from him around shoulder level, and moving them in an alternating fist sort of way (think lame kung fu or something). Most other outs are signalled by the umpires by a bent elbow hand-cocking gesture. I’m not sure to which motion you’re referring when you say “pulling the chains.” Don’t know the origins, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Rattlehead02](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rattlehead02/32/3944_2.png) [@Rattlehead02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rattlehead02)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-umpires-pulling-the-chains/184328/5 "2003-06-25T21:33:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by troub \* > \*\*…A strikeout usually results in the home plate umpire making some motion with both arms pointing out away from him around shoulder level, and moving them in an alternating fist sort of way (think lame kung fu or something). > > … > > I’m not sure to which motion you’re referring when you say “pulling the chains.” > \*\* I’m refering to the, as you perfectly put it, “lame kung fu or something” motion. And yeah, now that you mention it, they don’t pull the chains in the field. P.S. This may post twice, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-umpires-pulling-the-chains/184328/6 "2003-06-25T22:04:58Z")
The “lame kung fu” thing (“chains”?) is, I suspect, a variation on the count. The count is shown by indicating balls with one hand, strikes with the other: [http://www.umpire.org/mechanics/signals/Showingthecount.jpg](http://www.umpire.org/mechanics/signals/Showingthecount.jpg) On a third strike, an umpire might “reset” the count. However, they’re supposed to just call strike three: > [@](#): > > [http://www.mysportsguru.com/CDA/Article/0,1093,1-1003-1044-2004,00.html](http://www.mysportsguru.com/CDA/Article/0,1093,1-1003-1044-2004,00.html) > Most umpires emphatically say “strike three” and “punch out” the batter on a called third strike by putting the right arm out to the side, then putting the left arm out to the same side and pulling it back quickly. The called “strike three” will vary among umpires. On a swinging strike, umpires generally do not verbalize the strike call, unless it is strike three, in which case umpires should firmly say “strike three” and make their strike signal without over-emphasizing it. Umpires also signal the number of outs, by holding out the right or both arms with the appropriate number of fingers: [http://www.umpire.org/mechanics/signals/oneout.jpg](http://www.umpire.org/mechanics/signals/oneout.jpg) If you missed the called strike three, you might think the umpire is calling the player out, but this is not precisely true. An out, in the field, is signaled by pumping the right fist. ---
**Author:** ![Lennon\_Lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Lennon\_Lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lennon_Lives)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-umpires-pulling-the-chains/184328/7 "2003-06-26T00:21:29Z")
IIRC (and my baseball history is a bit weak) the hand signals for safe and out (and strikes) developed in the early part of the 1900s. At that time there was a deaf ball player playing in the major leagues so the umpires started to use hand signals for him to let him know their rulings (I can’t recall his name but I think his nickname was Dummy). So during his playing days the umpires used the hand signals (crossing the out stretched arms in front of the body and then spreading them apart to signal “safe” and making a fist with the thumb extended and then throwing the fist over your shoulder (like throwing something over your shoulder) for an out (or strike). By the time “Dummy” retired another deaf ball player started his career, so the umpires continued the signals until they became a tradition. Fast forward to the 1960s and I believe the first umpire to change from the thumb over the shoulder for an out was Ron Luciania (sp?) who started to call outs by punching the air downward with his fist. I believe this evolved into the punch and then pulling back that many umpires use today. Of course all umpires develop their own style of hand signals and their balls and strikes vocal calls. Some are quite varied but the most popular today is what you called “pulling the chain”. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-umpires-pulling-the-chains/184328/8 "2003-06-26T05:20:16Z")
There have been threads before on the history of umpire’s signals, but the current theory on their development was not to aid the hearing-impaired, but rather to make it easier for spectators to know if a strike or ball had been called.