"If you absorb even a fraction of the information in his [Dickson's] tales of baseball's silent strategy and how teams have used it to win games through the decades, your next trip to the ballpark will be considerably richer."—Mike McNamee, Business Week
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"A pleasure...Dickson writes extremely well and appreciates the nuances of baseball controversy...This fine and original book should be in any literate fan's library."—Luke Salisbury, Sunday 8/24, Boston Globe

"Prolific slangman Paul Dickson, meanwhile, combines two loves in The Hidden Language of Baseball: How Signs and Sign-Stealing Have Influenced the Course of Our National Pastime. This anecdote-rich history of the code wars, from the glory days of the Boston Beaneaters (signaling champs of 1893) to the pitch-tipping in last season's playoffs, is the kind of inside baseball even fair-weather fans can savor."—Jan Freeman, Boston Globe

"Dickson's impressively researched, well-written page-turner isn't just for baseball fans. The anecdotes he recounts are fascinating, and the trivia is obscure enough that even a baseball fanatic will be enlightened."—Jessica Flint, Washingtonian Online

"Dickson's name is on half a dozen earlier baseball books; this one, about signs (signals) and sign-stealing, is an old-fashioned whiz-bang: Dickson's most complicated, most rewarding book yet."—James H. Bready, The Baltimore Sun, July 6, 2003

"We'll recommend The Hidden Language of Baseball (Walker Books, $22.00 even). Hidden is a swell diversion, full of little stories such as Bill Veeck's using telescopes to steal signs (and perhaps the pennant). We don't think you get enough of that nowadays. Dickson traces the secret art from its humble beginnings during the Civil War (where they were an extension of battlefield signals) on up to last year's playoffs, when St. Louis snuffed out the Johnson/Schilling tandem, perhaps because of tipped pitches. While it doesn't decode the cryptics on the field today, The Hidden Language of Baseball offers up a little dessert buffet of anecdotes that should keep the fathers of America feeling tender and warm in their easy chairs."—Mudville Magazine: The Voice of Baseball

"And no discussion of signs would be complete without those used in baseball, which are the subject of Paul Dickson's "The Hidden Language of Baseball: How Signs and Sign Stealing Have Influenced the Course of America's Pastime," a charming celebration of the role of cheating in our national game."—David L. Ulin, The Los Angeles Times

"Dickson, whose more than 40 books include several baseball titles,
returns to the national pastime with a thoroughly researched account of
the game's idiosyncratic forms of communication. As hard as it is to
unearth fresh information about such a richly documented sport, Dickson
has plenty of new stories and details. Who knew, for example, that the
savvy Ty Cobb would often tip his hand, giving opponents an idea of when
he planned to bunt or steal a base? And who had any idea that the
Chicago White Sox 1959 pennant drive was aided by sign stealing from the
center-field scoreboard? Anyone who has ever played or coached youth
baseball or paid close attention to the third-base coach at a big-league
game will appreciate the author's guided tour through the history of
diamond sign language. Dickson is a fine storyteller, and his latest
book is a welcome addition to the rich canon of baseball literature.
—Kevin Canfield, Booklist

"Fascinating for fans of all ages."—Bill Ott, Booklist