A permanent feature of the modern game—the dramatic hand signals used by umpires—was heavily influenced by a single player. William Ellsworth "Dummy" Hoy was a talented center fielder who played from 1888 to 1902. Hoy lost his hearing to meningitis as a child. At the time, umpires only shouted their calls. Because Hoy could not hear whether a pitch was a strike or a ball while standing in the batter's box, or whether a teammate was called out from his position in the outfield, he worked with umpires and coaches to develop a series of hand signals. Today, every raised right fist for a strike and swept-out arms for "safe" traces its lineage back to a 19th-century deaf player trying to follow the game.