MLB Letter Confirms Yankees Used Technology for Sign Stealing

Sign stealing has long been a part of baseball strategy. When a batter is hitting, his teammates carefully watch a catcher’s fingers or body language to figure out what pitch is about to be thrown. That is all fair play as long as teams do not use any electronic devices, such as cameras or computers, to facilitate the process.

During past seasons — according to a newly released, partially redacted letter from Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred to Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman sent in 2017 — the Yankees used electronic devices to decipher and share opposing teams’ signs. The letter came after the Yankees had accused the Boston Red Sox of using a similar process.

“The Yankees’ use of the dugout phone to relay information about an opposing Club’s signs during the 2015 season, and part of the 2016 season, constitutes a material violation of the Replay Review Regulations,” Manfred wrote to Cashman.

“By using the phone in the video review room to instantaneously transmit information regarding signs to the dugout in violation of the Regulations, the Yankees were able to provide real-time information to their players regarding an opposing Club’s sign sequence — the same objective of the Red Sox’s scheme that was the subject of the Yankees’ complaint.”

The reason the Yankees were punished in a less severe way (a $100,000 fine earmarked for a charitable cause) than the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox, World Series-winning teams that were dealt suspensions, fines, a loss of draft picks and public scorn? Those teams continued their sign-stealing ways after M.L.B. began cracking down on it and instituted clear terms of punishment.

The contents of that M.L.B. letter to the Yankees — which became public on Tuesday, and were first reported by SNY, ahead of an expected unsealing in court — weren’t exactly new or surprising. Paranoia about opponents stealing signs between pitchers and catchers has existed throughout baseball history, but the influx of technology in the game had introduced new fears.

New ways to skirt the rules emerged in 2014, when M.L.B. expanded its use of instant replay review, which established rooms near each team’s dugout with live video feeds to help coaches decide whether or not to challenge a play. Players were also allowed to visit these rooms during games to consult video of their pitching or hitting. But any use of technology to decode or relay opponents’ signs during a game was still prohibited.

Although concern had been building among many teams that their opponents were going too far, the first big public sign that technology was being abused came in 2017, when The New York Times reported that the Yankees had filed a complaint with M.L.B. accusing the Red Sox of relaying signs from video replay personnel to the dugout via an Apple Watch. After an investigation of the Red Sox, which led to a fine, M.L.B. admitted that it had become increasingly difficult to monitor the inappropriate use of electronics.

“At that point in time, sign stealing was utilized as a competitive tool by numerous teams throughout Major League Baseball and only became illegal after the Commissioner’s specific delineation of the rules on September 15, 2017,” the Yankees said in a statement on Tuesday, later adding that they have had “no infractions or violations” since.

That day, Manfred sent a memorandum to all 30 teams warning them about illegal sign-stealing and stating that club management, not players, would be held accountable for any such cheating. In March 2018, M.L.B. sent another memorandum to teams that made clear that replay rooms and video feeds were not allowed to be used for stealing signs during games.

(M.L.B. has since taken further steps to try to curb such behavior.)

This where the Yankees’ story, though, veers from those of the Astros and the Red Sox.

The Astros were found, according to a M.L.B. investigation released in January 2020, to have employed a scheme through the 2017 playoffs and for at least part of the 2018 season that involved using cameras and monitors to decode opposing teams’ signs and tip off Houston’s batters, often by banging on a trash can just outside the dugout.

Manfred punished the Astros by issuing one-year suspensions to General Manager Jeff Luhnow and Manager A.J. Hinch, both of whom were subsequently fired by the team owner Jim Crane, and by fining the team $5 million and docking a first- and second-round draft pick in 2020 and 2021.

The Red Sox were found, according to a separate M.L.B. investigation released in April 2020, to have used a scheme in 2018 that was more limited in scope than the Astros’ but still involved decoding opponents’ signs while watching live video during games and passing that information along to players.

Manfred punished the Red Sox by issuing one-year suspensions to Manager Alex Cora, who was also part of…