George Stallings had been accused of being a sign stealer. And, when he finally won his first and only championship with the miracle Boston Braves in 1914—the team was 35-43 and in eighth place on July 18—his shortstop, Walter “Rabbit” Maranville claimed sign stealing was a part of the team’s success.
Rabbit Maranville
The Boston Post quoted Maranville speaking to a group from Boston College during the winter after the team’s World Series victory:
“Signals had a lot to do with our winning the championship. We had signals of our own, of course, and so far as I know they never were solved consistently. We were able to get the meaning of the signals of the other team in nearly every other city of the league. In St. Louis we knew almost every move that the other fellow was going to make, and that helped a lot. Their signals were very easy. Other teams had harder signals, but we managed to get most of them, while the other side was doing the guessing.”
Whether or not sign stealing played a part, the Braves were 9-1 (with one game ending in a tie) in their last 11 games against the St. Louis Cardinals and their “very easy” signals.
While Stallings never confirmed Maranville’s claim, he did tell The Boston Globe that winter that took great pains to ensure that their signs weren’t stolen in the World Series:
George Stallings
“Although we had a set of signals that I don’t think any ballclub in the world could have gotten on to we heard rumors that the (Philadelphia) Athletics had been tipped off to them. We framed up an entire new set, and a coacher or base runner could have looked square into the catcher’s glove and never had gotten these. (Connie) Mack’s men failed to get a sign of ours in the series so far as I know.”
Baseball History Daily 
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