What is with the rubbing???

I am not a baseball fan. The games are usually on NESN and I don't have cable.

So the one thing I never knew about the game was how much the coaches rub to each other. It's a secret language like pig latin.

Watching Terry "the Spittah" Francona: he rubs his cheek twice, then once down the forearm, a tug on the ear, and scratches his elbow. Or something like that.

To which some other coach on the field replies with: a tug on his cap, a swipe down the leg, two taps on the forearm, and a hand squeeze under the armpit. Or something like that.

And then the catcher taps twice on his balls and the pitcher knows to throw a fastball.

Which is a universal statement that means: If you don't pitch an out, I will punch you in the nuts.