The Boston Red Sox used an Apple Watch to steal pitching signs from Yankees and other Teams

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The Boston Red Sox used an Apple Watch to steal pitching signs during baseball games, including against the New York Yankees, according to The New York Times. An investigation conducted by Major League Baseball determined that a member of the Red Sox training staff used the smartwatch to receive information that helped the team’s players decipher hand signals used by the opposing team’s catcher, who is in charge of making (and signaling) the pitch selections for the pitcher.


The MLB commissioner’s office began the investigation two weeks ago after Brian Cashman, the Yankees’ general manager, reportedly filed an official complaint. Included in that complaint were multiple video clips showing the Red Sox trainer checking his Apple Watch and subsequently relaying information to his players during games against the Yankees. No penalties have been issued as of yet.


Sign stealing isn’t explicitly against the MLB’s rules, but it’s definitely frowned upon, and it has a long history in baseball. Its most organic form occurs when there’s a baserunner at second base. From that position, the player is lined up just behind the pitcher, and has a clear view of the signals that the catcher uses to call different pitch types (fastball, curveball, etc.) and location.


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Since recognizing a pitch is such a crucial part of hitting a baseball (or just as importantly, knowing when not to swing), that information can help improve a batter’s chances. And considering the best hitters in the game typically carry batting averages of around .300, meaning they only succeed about 30 percent of the time, every little bit helps.


What the Red Sox are being accused of here is not all that different from the way players and coaches have stolen signs for decades. And to be clear, the dramatic advancement of camera technology as well as the proliferation of video replays in the era of HD television have already made it easier (and more tempting) for teams to try to use information that’s right in front of their eyes.


To fight those urges, the MLB has tried to limit how accessible that information is during any particular game. Smartphones are banned, and while the league worked with Apple to bring iPad Pros into the dugout last year, they disabled the tablet’s internet capabilities. Coaches can’t use them to access real-time feeds of the game.


But Apple Watches are still allowed, and so the Red Sox used it to help shorten that chain of information. Instead of waiting for someone to physically relay information (either verbally or in written form) from a place where the team can monitor real-time video of the game, the trainer apparently received word about which signs meant what on his Apple Watch, likely through some kind of messaging app. He then told the players in anticipation that, should they wind up on second base, they’d be able to recognize the signs’ meanings.


What using an Apple Watch can’t solve for is how, even armed with that knowledge, the Red Sox players at second base were relaying that information to the batter in the moment. All I know is that, if they were also using AirPods, someone probably would’ve noticed.
 
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[h=1]Red Sox stole signs electronically from Yankees, other teams[/h]
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed Tuesday that the Boston Red Sox used electronic communication from the dugout to steal opponents' signs and relay them to Boston players during games.


The New York Yankees filed a formal complaint against the Red Sox on July 18, sources told ESPN's Buster Olney. Baseball's investigation of the Red Sox is ongoing, Manfred said from Fenway Park ahead of Boston's game against Toronto, but he expects it will be completed before the end of the regular season.


<aside class="inline editorial float-r" data-behavior="article_related">[h=1]Editor's Picks[/h]
</aside>News of the investigation was first reported by the New York Times.


Major League Baseball does not have a policy against sign stealing, per se, Manfred said. The issue is the use of an electronic device in the dugout, which is against league rules.


"We actually do not have a rule against sign-stealing," Manfred said. "It has been a part of the game for a very, very long time. To the extent that there was a violation of the rule here, it was a violation by one or the other [team] that involved the use of electronic equipment. It's the electronic equipment that creates the violation. I think the rule against electronic equipment has a number of policy reasons behind it, but one of them is we don't want to escalate attempts to figure out what a pitcher is going to throw by introducing electronics into that mix.


"To the extent there was a violation on either side, we are 100 percent comfortable that it's not an ongoing issue, that if it happened, it is no longer. I think that's important from an integrity perspective going forward."


The league investigation is being conducted by Bryan Seeley, a former assistant U.S. attorney for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington who now heads MLB's department of investigations.


After MLB corroborated the claims with its own video, the commissioner's office confronted the Red Sox, who admitted that video replay personnel were getting signs and that those were relayed to some players, The Times reported. The scheme had been ongoing for some weeks.


The Red Sox's scheme came to MLB's attention when New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman filed a complaint with Manfred's office last month. He supplied video of what the team contended was a Red Sox trainer looking at his Apple Watch, the Times reported, and then relaying information to players -- in one instance outfielder Brock Holt and in another infielder Dustin Pedroia -- during a series between the teams in Boston.


Red Sox manager John Farrell, whose team is hosting Toronto, said that Boston is "aware of the rule [that] electronic devices are not to be used in the dugout." When asked to comment further, he said it's "a league matter."


Regarding the potential for penalties, sources told Olney it is highly unlikely the Red Sox would be docked draft picks, but that fines and suspensions are possible.
Manfred said that, "under the major league constitution," the league has the authority to strip one or both teams of wins, but he acknowledged it has never happened in a case like this, because "it's just very hard to know what the actual impact in any particular game was of an alleged violation like this."


Asked whether a potential punishment for Boston could be used to deter future incidents, Manfred acknowledged it was a factor that would be weighed.


"When I think about punishment, I think you need to think about deterrents," he said. "I think you need to think about how the violation has affected the play on the field, and I think you need to think about how it's affected the perception of the game publicly. All of those things are something that you have to weigh in terms of trying to get to appropriate discipline."


Red Sox general manager Dave Dombrowski declined to comment on the matter of electronic devices, but he said stealing signs has been part of the game for many years.


"I don't really want to comment on any analysis of anybody. But I will say I think sign stealing has been going on in baseball for a long time," Dombrowski said. "I've been in the game for 40 years, I've known of it for 40 years, sign stealing, itself. People I've talked to that played back in the '50s talk to me about sign stealing. So I do think sign stealing has been taking place for a long time. I will acknowledge that.


"Do I think sign stealing is wrong? No, I don't. I guess it depends how you do it. But no, I never thought it was wrong. I guess everybody in the game has been involved with it throughout the years. People are trying to win however they can. It's an edge they are trying to gain. Sometimes your sophistication of signs can make a difference. So no, I never felt like it's wrong. Put it this way, I was never brought up that it was wrong."


Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, who is in Baltimore for a game against the Orioles, said of the sign stealing, "It was something we expected was going on."
During Yankees-Red Sox games this year, Yankees catchers increasingly and repeatedly visited the mound to go through the signs or change sequences verbally -- and this was related partly to the Yankees' concerns about how the Red Sox were relaying information, sources told Olney.


<article class="ad-300"></article>Sources with knowledge of the situation told ESPN's Andrew Marchand that the Yankees have suspected the Red Sox were using illegal methods to steal signs for a while, but they could not prove it until the last series in Boston. The Yankees thought something was not right because the Red Sox repeatedly hit pitches hard that the Yankees felt would normally be unhittable -- especially with runners in scoring position.


A source also questioned how Farrell and Dombrowski did not know about the scheme, considering the Yankees were able to figure it out, and so many players were involved.


The Red Sox have since filed their own complaint, alleging that the Yankees use a camera from their YES Network exclusively for stealing signs.


Sources denied the substance of the Red Sox's counterclaim, with one saying it was a public relations move to try to muddy the waters.


"There is no meat on the bone," the source said.


"No chance," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.
 

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Spygate, deflategate and now Applegate. Fucking dishonest cheaters up there in Boston. Fuck em
 
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Spygate, deflategate and now Applegate. Fucking dishonest cheaters up there in Boston. Fuck em


9dfcad0f9aecd5fca78b74c66b79f341.jpg
 

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Giants have 2 beating the scumbag cheaters ...

Unlike you I don't stutter when replying HayHayHaystacks








 

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They should either fire the code cracker or dump a bunch of players in offseason because they still can't hit for shit.

Free advertising for apple as well.
 

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Giants have 2 beating the scumbag cheaters ...

Unlike you I don't stutter when replying HayHayHaystacks









i laughed...
also, you guys beat us fair and square. We could have won both, not necessarily should have though. Did you notice that all the pats fans congratulated you when you won, with no sour grapes at all ? The Giants fans were very gracious winners too. It was kind of cool actually. It's not a blood thing like in the division. I never tire of watching the buffalos, flippers and jet planes wallow in mediocrity. Their fans can also pound sand.

Eli is a tough bastid. Having a sadistic older brother or 2 helped with that. The old man could really tsk a beating too. Eli gets up every time
 

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