I didn’t really want to talk about this, but considering Astros Twitter won’t shut up about it, I felt like I had to.
Apparently, this video is of a member of the Yankees staff, filming the opposing catcher to steal signs from the outfield. Focus on what's on the viewfinder and the billboards to establish location.
The source told me the information above and that it's from the 2018 playoffs. pic.twitter.com/J7SfEUPyUX
— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) July 27, 2020
Here’s what we know. The video does indeed take place at Yankee Stadium, and it appears to be during the 2018 Wild Card Game.
@michaelschwab13 @astros_cocky oh my my my I believe we have a match here pic.twitter.com/mzySOGiuCT
— DJ80 (@DeeJay99360549) July 27, 2020
The video shows the catcher during one of Didi’s at bats in the 2018 Wild Card Game. What else do we know? Literally nothing.
Is the person in the video a Yankees employee, or is the feed being relayed somewhere? Nobody knows, all we have is this video and an “allegation” from an unnamed player.
A current MLB player and league source with knowledge of this video have confirmed to me, via a phone conversation, that this is a video of the Yankees stealing signs during the 2018 playoffs. https://t.co/KptMVsRTjP
— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) July 28, 2020
The Astros had actually already accused the Yankees of cheating earlier in 2018, as hilarious as that is. Reminds me of a guy who’s nervous because he’s cheating on his girlfriend, so he accuses her of cheating first. The camera in question was actually league-approved, and nothing ever came of the accusations.
My take on this has been the same from the beginning. Every team in baseball, the Yankees included, was using the replay room to decode signs before the league made a ruling on it in 2017. The Astros’ operation, however, was on another level.
For the record, I do think the Yankees were using the video room to decode signs. I think every single team was. It’s why I never really understood the Red Sox investigation.
But unless I see legitimate proof otherwise, I think the Astros had the only camera-in-CF operation
— Stanzo (@ncostanzo24) July 27, 2020
This video from some random Astros fan on Twitter doesn’t prove anything to me. The Astros’ entire fan base has been in denial ever since The Athletic‘s article exposing their sign-stealing scandal back in November. Instead of accepting that what their team did was wrong and moving on, they’ve been on a warpath trying to prove that every other team in the league was part of the most elaborate baseball cheating scandal since the Black Sox.
SNY’s Andy Martino is in the middle of writing a book about sign-stealing in baseball. He commented on the video and said he found nothing that points to the Yankees cheating. If anyone wanted to uncover a Yankees’ sign stealing operation, wouldn’t it be him?
Right? Uncovering a Yankees cheating scandal wouldn’t exactly be bad for business. But it would have to actually be there https://t.co/fjuFXnnwk1
— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) July 28, 2020
I leave you all with one final point. Anyone who accuses the Yankees of sign stealing has obviously never seen Judge, Gary or Stanton swing at a slider low and away as if their lives depended on it.