In baseball, sign stealing is the observing and relaying, through legal and illegal methods, of the signs being given by the opposing catcher to the pitcher or a coach to a base runner. The signs are stolen by the opposing team and then relayed to the other members of the team to give advance knowledge of what kind of pitch is coming next, thereby giving that batter an advantage. Legal sign stealing typically involves the signs being observed by a runner on second base and then relayed to the batter through some sort of gesture. Illegal sign stealing involves mechanical or electronic technology; the rules regarding this have become more stringent over time and continue to evolve.