Red Sox used Apple Watch to steal Yankees’ signs

NEW YORK (AP) — The first-place Boston Red Sox have reportedly admitted to Major League Baseball that they improperly used electronic devices to steal signs from their longtime rival New York Yankees.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday the Red Sox used a high-tech watch to relay signs by the Yankees catchers during a series last month at Fenway Park.

The Times said the Red Sox told MLB investigators that Boston manager John Farrell, general Dave Dombrowski and other team executives were not aware of the scheme. Farrell said he knew the rule. “Electronic devices are not to be used in the dugout,” he said before Boston hosted Toronto. “But beyond that, the only thing I can say it’s a league matter at this point.”

Dombrowski said it was the first time a team he’d worked for had been formally accused of stealing signs.

The Times, according to unidentified sources, said the MLB probe started after Yankees general manager Brian Cashman filed a complaint with the commissioner’s office that included video.The newspaper said the video showed a member of Boston’s training staff looking at his Apple Watch in the dugout and relaying a message to players.

“I think there was something that was suspected of going on,” Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner said before Tuesday night’s game in Baltimore.

The Red Sox hold a narrow lead over the Yankees in the AL East race with a month left in the regular season. The teams don’t play again this season.

The Times said the Red Sox filed a complaint Tuesday against the Yankees, alleging the club used a camera from its YES television network to steal opponents’ signs. “No chance,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. The Times said the Red Sox told MLB investigators that club personnel watched instant-replay video and then electronically sent pitch signals to team trainers in the dugout, who relayed the information to players.

Boston won two of three from the Yankees during the series Aug. 18-20. The Times reported that in the first game, after Boston first put a runner on second, Rafael Devers hit a home run. The Red Sox went 5 for 8 in that game when they had a runner at second and won 9-6.

Sign stealing to help hitters know what pitch is coming has long been a part of baseball lore. Most often it happens when a runner at second base peers in to see the catcher’s sign and then subtly flashes a signal — maybe a hand movement, or the positioning of his feet — to the batter to let him know whether the next pitch will be a fastball, curveball or something else.

The most famous example sign stealing was a secret for almost a half-century. It took that long before it was positively revealed the New York Giants used a spyglass-and-buzzer system to relay pitch signals to their hitters during their famed 1951 chase of the Brooklyn Dodgers, which culminated with Bobby Thomson’s bottom-of-the-ninth, winning homer in the decisive Game 3 of the NL playoffs.