Major League Baseball fined the New York Yankees $100,000 in 2017 following an investigation into sign-stealing allegations, according to a letter obtained by SNY's Andy Martino.
MLB determined that the Yankees used their video replay room in 2015 and 2016 to decipher signs and relay them to a hitter through a runner on second base, according to the letter, which commissioner Rob Manfred wrote to the team's senior vice president and general manager, Brian Cashman. In some road stadiums, the club used the dugout phone to relay the information from the replay room, the letter said. However, the Yankees maintain that former pitching coach Larry Rothschild would use the phone to ask about balls and strikes, sources told Martino.
"As previously made public in 2017, the New York Yankees were fined for improper use of the dugout phone because the replay review regulations prohibited the use of the replay phone to transmit any information other than whether to challenge a play," MLB said in a statement Tuesday.
The Yankees' sign-stealing scheme wasn't on the same level as the one used by the Houston Astros throughout their 2017 championship season. The Astros banged on trash cans to notify hitters about what pitch was coming with the help of a dugout monitor that showed the center-field camera feed.
MLB also determined New York wasn't using YES Network cameras to steal signs from Boston's dugout as the Red Sox alleged, concluding those claims were "without merit."
"The Yankees vigorously fought the production of this letter, not only for the legal principle involved but to prevent the incorrect equating of events that occurred before the establishment of the commissioner's sign-stealing rules with those that took place after. What should be made vibrantly clear is this: the fine noted in Major League Baseball's letter was imposed before MLB's new regulations and standards were issued," the Yankees said in a statement.
The league didn't suggest the Yankees used the scheme during the 2017 season. Manfred implemented harsh penalties for stealing signs electronically on Sept. 15 of that year. MLB punished the Astros in January 2020 for their indiscretions. It also suspended a Red Sox video replay system operator in April 2020 after an inquiry into 2018 allegations against Boston.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request by the Yankees last Thursday to keep the letter sealed.
