Key Takeaways
- Bob Costas narrates Hoy: The Hands That Shaped the Game, a short documentary supporting Deaf baseball pioneer William “Dummy” Hoy’s Hall of Fame campaign.
- Hoy recorded 2,048 hits and 596 stolen bases across 14 seasons while helping popularize the visual signals that transformed how baseball communicates.
- Backed by Albert Pujols, Troy Kotsur and Nyle DiMarco, Sign for Hoy aims to collect one million petition signatures before the Classic Baseball Era Committee considers candidates for the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2028.
Usually, when a player changes how a sport is played, the sport remembers him. That's not quite how it went for William "Dummy" Hoy, the Deaf center fielder who is widely credited with helping popularize the hand signals umpires still use today. More than 120 years after his last at-bat, a campaign is trying to fix that, and it just brought in one of the most recognizable voices in baseball to help.
On Oct. 21, the Sign For Hoy campaign released the trailer for Hoy: The Hands That Shaped the Game, a short documentary narrated by Bob Costas. “I've spent a good portion of my career telling baseball stories,” Costas said, according to Men's Journal. “This is one that deserves to be more widely known.”
The endorsement carries weight. The 74-year-old hosted 12 Olympics for NBC, called the World Series in the '90s, eulogized Mickey Mantle, and in 2018 received the Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award, the honor Cooperstown reserved for broadcasting excellence.
As for the man whose story he's telling, Hoy was born in Ohio in 1862 and lost his hearing after contracting meningitis at a young age. He worked as a shoemaker before breaking into professional baseball in 1886, eventually making his major league debut with Washington two years later.
Over 14 seasons, Hoy racked up 2,048 hits, 596 stolen bases and 1,004 walks — and he did it at a time when umpires largely announced their calls aloud.
To keep track of balls and strikes without turning away from the pitcher, Hoy relied on hand signals from his third-base coach. Historians still debate whether his system directly inspired the signals umpires use today.
Either way, his supporters believe he's earned a place in Cooperstown. “We 100% believe that if Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, Dummy Hoy broke the sound barrier,” Shawn Ullman, president of Sign for Hoy, told Sports Illustrated in September.
He's hardly alone. The campaign has attracted supporters including three-time National League MVP Albert Pujols, Oscar-winning CODA actor Troy Kotsur and Deaf advocate Nyle DiMarco. Former MLB outfielder Curtis Pride, who is also Deaf, serves as a baseball adviser.
The documentary isn't expected until November, but fans are already making their case for Hoy in the comments under its YouTube trailer.
"14 incredible seasons, a true pioneer for the deaf community, and a baseball legend. Give Dummy Hoy his rightful plaque in the Hall of Fame!" one wrote. “I have been following Hoy for over 50 years. His stats are incredible,” another added, arguing that the hand signals benefit everyone watching baseball. “HE must go to the HOF, period.”
Fans looking to do more than cheer him can also sign a petition. The Sign for Hoy campaign is collecting signatures with a goal of one million names to demonstrate public support for his induction. The Classic Baseball Era Committee votes in December 2027, but Hoy must first make the eight-person ballot to be considered for the Class of 2028.
Brenda Linkous, co-CEO of Deafinitely For All Entertainment, put the goal in perspective. "If he gets in the Hall of Fame, that will be fantastic and we will celebrate," she said. "But people even knowing his name: he deserves that."
Hoy died in 1961 at age 99, just two months after throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at Game 3 of the World Series in Cincinnati.
