Slashdot Mirror
Boston Red Sox Used Apple Watches To Steal Hand Signals From Yankees (macrumors.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Mac Rumors: Investigators for Major League Baseball believe the Boston Red Sox, currently in first place in the American League East, have used the Apple Watch to illicitly steal hand signals from opposing teams, reports The New York Times. The Red Sox are believed to have stolen hand signals from opponents' catchers in games using video recording equipment and communicated the information with the Apple Watch. An inquiry into the Red Sox' practice started two weeks ago following a complaint from Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who caught a member of the Red Sox training staff looking at his Apple Watch in the dugout and then relaying information to players. It's believed the information was used to determine the type of pitch that was going to be thrown. Baseball investigators corroborated the claim using video for instant replay and broadcasts before confronting the Red Sox. The team admitted that trainers received signals from video replay personnel and then shared them with some players.
"The Red Sox told league investigators said that team personnel scanning instant- replay video were electronically sending the pitch signs to the trainers, who were then passing the information to the players," reports The New York Times. [...] "The video provided to the commissioner's office by the Yankees was captured during the first two games of the series and included at least three clips. In the clips, the team's assistant athletic trainer, Jon Jochim, is seen looking at his Apple Watch and then passing information to outfielder Brock Holt and second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who was injured at the time but in uniform. In one instance, Pedroia is then seen passing the information to Young."
"The Red Sox told league investigators said that team personnel scanning instant- replay video were electronically sending the pitch signs to the trainers, who were then passing the information to the players," reports The New York Times. [...] "The video provided to the commissioner's office by the Yankees was captured during the first two games of the series and included at least three clips. In the clips, the team's assistant athletic trainer, Jon Jochim, is seen looking at his Apple Watch and then passing information to outfielder Brock Holt and second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who was injured at the time but in uniform. In one instance, Pedroia is then seen passing the information to Young."
Another article I saw made it clear the rule violation would be the use of electronic devices in the dugout. The view of major league baseball is that sign stealing is part of the game, but electronic devices are banned to keep it from being too easy and getting out of hand.
There's a lot of observing opponents in baseball and a lot of technology involved. The only problem was the use of electronic devices in the dugout to relay the signs. Were it not for that, the Red Sox would not have been breaking the rules.
There's a lot going on between pitches and a lot of signs relayed between coaches, the catcher, the pitcher, other defenders, the hitter, and runners. The manager or a coach could signal the catcher which pitch to throw next. The catcher then gives the signs to the pitcher about what pitch to throw next. The catcher needs to know what the next pitch is so he can position accordingly to catch it. There are also signals to the defense about positioning, which can change from one pitch to the next. There are also signals to the hitter sometimes about whether to do something like lay down a bunt or to execute a hit-and-run. If there's a hit-and-run, the runner also needs to know to take off. A double steal would also require signaling both runners to take off. The signs are usually passed with things like hand signals.
As a post above me noted, sign stealing is part of baseball. This usually involves runners trying to see what the catcher signals or where he's setting up to receive the pitch, then relaying that information to the hitter. The catcher often employs deception tactics to try to make sign stealing difficult. This is totally legal and has been a part of baseball for as long as I'm aware of.
There's also a lot of technology in scouting. There are a lot of statistics that are collected and a lot of video that teams have access to. Players will often look for tendencies in their opponents, especially with pitchers. They look to see if a pitcher is tipping his pitches, which means that he does something differently if he's going to throw a different pitch. A pitcher might take a slightly different stance or wind up differently if he's going to throw a curveball versus a fastball. Hitters can try to pick up on those often subtle differences to try to gain an advantage. They will also try to time how long it takes a pitcher to deliver his pitches to the plate and see if he has a different motion if he's making a pickoff attempt to first base rather than delivering a pitch. This is useful to runners who are trying to steal bases. This is all completely legal and MLB teams invest a lot of money in doing exactly this. It's part of the game of baseball, and as a fan, I have absolutely no problem with it.
If the Red Sox had done this without having electronic devices in the dugout, there wouldn't be any talk of punishing them. A few years ago, Phillies coach Mick Billmeyer was allegedly stealing signs from the bullpen with binoculars. Teams have hired people to sit in the stands with binoculars and relay signs to hitters. If you're clever enough that the opponents don't notice, you can get away with it. MLB tells teams that they're not allowed to use equipment (e.g., binoculars and Apple Watches) to steal signs. If you're not using equipment, it's 100% legal. If you're using a low-tech approach like binoculars, MLB will probably say to knock it off and not take any further action. If you're clever enough to steal signs effectively, just be clever enough that the other team doesn't notice.
Captcha: crouch (appropriate since I'm talking about catchers)
don't tell me about the one variant that can finish in a day
Average length of a baseball game: 3 hours
Average length of a T20 cricket game: 3 hours
Nothing is as boring as a cricket match
Average 146 pitches per team per baseball game may sound higher than the minimum 120 balls per T20 cricket innings, but at an average of less than 10 hits per game baseball is actually a slower game than Test cricket, which is a five day game. In a T20 innings a team will put bat on ball for most deliveries, scoring off over half of them.
Or consider baseball's home run rate. 1-5 per match? T20 cricket averages ten 'ball out of the ground' hits a match.
People clearly enjoy baseball. That's cool. It's just silly though to claim that cricket is by comparison boring.