-
A Major League Baseball investigation claims that the Boston Red Sox have been cheating with Apple Watches. According to the New York Times, the team was stealing signs from opposing catchers and pitchers and using Apple wearables in some manner to signal from the dugout to its own players.Rich Schultz/Getty Images
-
The investigation began when the Yankees provided the league with video evidence they claimed showed the sign stealing in action.Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
-
The Red Sox have since gone on the offensive, claiming that the Yankees use their own TV network, YES. Apparently, one of YES's cameras is exclusively for stealing other teams signs.Chris McGrath/Getty Images
-
We're not sure where this fight will end up, but it seems like there'll be plenty of bad blood the next time these two clubs meet up.
I don't know if baseball was one of the sports that Apple originally targeted when it created the Apple Watch, but it has nevertheless found a home there, according to the New York Times. On Tuesday afternoon the newspaper reported that Major League Baseball determined that the Boston Red Sox "executed a scheme to illicitly steal hand signals from opponents' catchers" against a number of teams.
Victimized teams include the New York Yankees, whose general manager filed the complaint with the league. At issue are the coded signs that catchers send pitchers during games. The Yankees apparently believe that the Red Sox had been stealing those signs and were using Apple Watches as a way to discreetly pass that information on to their players. After all, it's easier to hit the ball if you have a good idea where to find it.
The Red Sox have now, in turn, accused the Yankees of the same crime of sign stealing. The Sox claim that the New York team uses a camera from its in-house TV network (YES) specifically for this task.
This isn't the first time a wearable device has been at the center of a cheating controversy, but this baseball kerfuffle will have a much higher profile than the case of the marathon runner we reported on earlier this year. It did get me wondering, though: where else are people using smart watches or wearables to cheat? Casinos are probably safe until the next big breakthrough in augmented reality.
Listing image by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
reader comments
124