Were the Yankees were stealing signs in 2017? Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

MLB letter to Yankees about sign-stealing to become public

By Chelena Goldman | Last updated 3/21/22

A U.S. Court of Appeals judge declined the New York Yankees' request to stop a letter alleging the team stole signs from being unsealed, multiple sources reported on Monday.

The letter from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to Yankees GM Brian Cashman allegedly contains proof the New York club improperly used a dugout phone as a sign-stealing method in 2017. The letter of the findings stemmed from the investigation into the rival Boston Red Sox using Apple watches to electronically steal and relay opposing catchers' signs.

There were allegedly discrepancies between what Manfred said in the letter and what he revealed to the public back in 2017.

The Yankees Letter is to become public, and whether there’s any discrepancy between what commissioner Rob Manfred said publicly in a 2017 press release, or whether anything susbtantive was hidden, will finally be available for review https://t.co/CPNyD02XIa pic.twitter.com/pHT9KuRpfC
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) March 21, 2022

According to the New York Post, sources close to the Yankees say the infractions were minor and that the effort to keep the letter sealed was to keep it from harming their reputation since the initial lawsuit was against the Red Sox and not the Yankees.

ESPN recounted that Yankees president Randy Levine argued against the release of the letter back in December 2020, also saying it would hurt the Yankees' reputation if it was made public.

"The Yankees argue that the harm from the unsealing of the Yankees Letter will rise because its content 'would be distorted to falsely and unfairly generate the confusing scenario that the Yankees had somehow violated MLB's sign-stealing rules, when in fact the Yankees did not,'" the court wrote, via ESPN. "That argument, however, carries little weight. Disclosure of the document will allow the public to independently assess MLB's conclusion regarding the internal investigation (as articulated to the Yankees) and the Yankees are fully capable of disseminating their own views regarding the actual content of the Yankees letter."

The letter won't be made public for at least another two weeks, ESPN said.

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