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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."
White Sox last time, now the Red Sox? What's with teams named after socks?
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Red Sox now the new Black Sox?
Can someone please explain how what the Red Sox did was wrong? Is there a rule against observing your opponents? Is it only wrong if it involves an Apple product?
"You can observe a lot by watching." -- Yogi Berra
So once these signs were stolen was the opposing team no longer able to use them? How were these signs returned once the thieves had been caught?
Apart from the use of technology, which might be banned from the field, this seems like a perfectly legitimate tactic.
I have noticed a inverse correlation between people who like sports and people who are good at logic, math and technology.
Sports are where you put the slow children.
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.
But how are the New England Patriots involved? It just sounds like their sort of thing.
you know, stealing on steroids
Yankees whine, mention tech giant, get press coverage...
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No, but they do have baseball caps.
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Major League Baseball will reportedly allow coaches and team personnel to wear Apple Watches in the dugout during games— while continuing to ban other electronic devices, including cell phones— as long as the Watch is not used for communication.
http://appleinsider.com/articl... In 2016 iPads were allowed in the dugout with some restrictions:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/ct-mlb-ipads-dugout-20160330-story.html
Whoever got caught glancing at his watch should have used AirPods. Perhaps they are too expensive even for MLB personnel.
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)
The difference is the bowler can see both batsmen. In baseball the catcher is the player who can see what the opposing players are doing, so he calls the pitches. The pitcher, however, doesn't always agree; sometimes they ask for a different signal.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
It's a bat and a ball, what difference does it make? (Paraphrasing Hillary)
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
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.
So basically the catcher is incompetent and the pitcher is incapable of picking his own pitches?
Try watching cricket, a similar game in which the guy with the ball makes his own decision on how to deliver it. A fast bowler will choose from an in swinger, out swinger, reverse swing, seam, leg break, off break, yorker, bouncer, slow ball, on a length, full, on the leg side, on off stump, outside off.. all these options and more.
He also knows how the field is set and will bowl accordingly.
Why does baseball need every single fucking play directed by someone else?
You are comparing apple with orange. Baseball is NOT cricket. And it appears that you don't understand baseball at all if you think that the catcher is incompetent and pitcher is incapable of pitching. Baseball is about cooperative between pitcher and catcher. They must be in sync. If they could have telepathy, then there wouldn't be hand signals.
Cricket, on the other hand, is one side only. It is a completely different game strategy. If you can't distinguish between cricket and baseball, then you shouldn't make this kind of silly comment.
Um, asking for the heater down and inside give the catcher a better chance of handling the ball than guessing where that 98mph fastball is going. High in his eyes? Low and outside? Oh, wait, the pitcher changes his mind and it becomes a straight change?
The only pitch you aren't trying to call for anticipated location and speed is the knuckler, and that's a catcher's skill to field.
And if you've watched much baseball, you know what happens when the catcher and pitcher get crossed up. Woops to the backstop.
Baseball is a uniquely strategic game with pitch calls, pitchouts, infield and outfield shifts, throwing behind the runner, stealing bases, bunting (a volume could be written on this, and the Yankees are really, REALLY butthurt that the Red Sox bunted on their lame pitcher last week, exposing his weakness fielding and playing good. fundamental. baseball.), multiple substitutions (except in the AL, where the DH has tarnished the game), delayed steals, hit-and-run, and the rare but always fun decoy plays.
Baseball is so unlike any other game it's remarkable. Soccer and hockey are also unique, soccer less so. American football, Rugby, Aussie Rules, similarities abound. Cricket is like Baseball as Field Hockey is like Ice Hockey.
This argument is naive. Baseball is complex.Very. The pace of the game enhances this, and the rules are actually simple-ish.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
True. Baseball has so little action and is so damn boring that you need this sort of thing to add an element of suspense. It isn't enough to actually make the sport entertaining to watch but people who have no taste and enjoy shitty watery American commercial beers need something to do.
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.
Then allow illegal signaling to be used so that Dreamers can signal, then make it illegal again to stop the Nazis.
Where did this "Dreamers" shit originate? I hadn't heard it until yesterday, and suddenly every liberal mouthpiece is shouting about it in unison. I even got a got an email about the CADA caca at work that referenced "Dreamers". Illegal immigrants are illegal immigrants no matter what you try to brand them as. Having such a coordinated marketing effort come from one side makes me far less likely to support that side.
Neither Baseball or Cricket are boring, provided you realize what is happening and what is at stake.
There are many subtle nuances and "game within the game" things happening all the time in both sports.
Despite the higher velocities in Cricket, it is easier to generate offense due to paddle shape and wicket size and many other things. Nothing wrong with that.
Hitting a Baseball thrown by a Major League Pitcher (someone that actually belongs there) is one of the hardest things to do in all of sports. The hitters that fail between 6 & 7 times out of 10 over their careers end up in the Hall of Fame. Just one at-bat is full of strategic decisions by both the battery (Pitcher and Catcher) and the Batter. If the Batter can get information about a pitch beforehand, it is a huge advantage.
Normally, signs are stolen when a runner is on Second. In that situation, the Battery changes signs to something more complicated or encoded. But even then, smart runners can still crack the signals and then show signs to the batter about what pitch he thinks is coming next. Or the runner may just be signaling where the Catcher is setting up. Which is why you will see some catchers shift quickly at the last moment to the real position he wants to be in to receive the pitch.
Loophole, he's deaf.