Magazine details alleged Jays sign stealing
Posted August 10, 2011 12:09 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Toronto Blue Jays have been stealing signs and relaying pitches to their batters during home games by using a man in centre field, an unnamed teams alleges in an ESPN the Magazine report.
The article cites four anonymous bullpen sources from an unnamed team claiming they noticed a man dressed in white among the blue center-field seats seemingly signalling the pitches the visiting pitcher was throwing against the Jays.
Earlier this season, New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi suggested the Blue Jays were stealing signs.
“Could be. Obviously, if you feel like it’s coming from somewhere else besides a player on the field, yeah, I do have issues with that.” Girardi told the media.
In response to the allegations, Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos will address the Toronto media at 3:45 p.m. ET and sportsnet.ca will have video of his comments immediately afterwards.
Toronto general manager Alex Anthopoulos denies that his team has relayed signs from beyond the field.
“That never happened, will never happen, not even a possibility,” he told ESPN. “If it did happen, we’d be winning a lot more games at home … I think it’s a nonstory because no one ever has picked up the phone and called me about it. It’s never been an issue, and I would expect them to do so if it was.”
Meanwhile, an MLB spokesman is quoted in the article as saying: “Major League Baseball has never received a complaint from any club about sign stealing in Toronto, and this is first [we’ve been] made aware of it.”
