12/04/24
July 16, 2011
Russell Martin Accuses Blue Jays of Stealing Signs: New York Yankees catcher Russell Martin said the Toronto Blue Jays were stealing signs during their 16-7 victory over the Yankees Thursday -- and he blamed himself for letting it happen. "If they're smart enough to be able to figure it out, and use it to their advantage -- it's one of those things you don't really talk about, but it's part of baseball." Yankees manager Joe Girardi defended the practice: "If it's coming from the bullpen, or if someone's got binoculars, or if it's coming from the stands, that's out of bounds. But if it's coming from the players, that's in bounds to me."
Stealing signs from 2nd was sort of a second-level competition back in my Babe Ruth days. I imagine that was true pretty much everywhere the game was played, so that sounds right to me as well.
posted by feloniousmonk at 08:45 PM on July 16, 2011
Jays have long been accused of being sign-stealers. Probably because it's true.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 09:11 PM on July 16, 2011
Yeah, but what sets them apart from everyone else who's doing it? Teams carry a number of different sets of signs for a reason. Singling them out seems like a poor focus on what's been a part of baseball long before the Blue Jays even existed.
posted by dfleming at 07:51 AM on July 17, 2011
They allegedly do it from the bullpen, stands and the like. I vividly remember numerous accusations from the glory years. It's been a constant comment.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 09:10 AM on July 17, 2011
If the Blue Jays are stealing signs at Rogers Centre, why do they have the 9th worst Home Record in MLB ?
Maybe the Yankees pitching just sucked on Thursday and Friday.
On Saturday, either the sign stealing equipment was broken, or C.C. Sabathia pitched well 8.0 3 1 1 3 8 0 110-74 .
Quityerbitchin' .
posted by tommybiden at 11:42 AM on July 17, 2011
Russell Martin is fitting in as a Yankee very nicely.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 12:32 PM on July 17, 2011
This article had much different tone than the one I read on ESPN on this...in this one it seems to stop at the "stealing signs from 2nd, and that's OK..that's my fault" perspective. Girardi doesn't even sound upset in this article.
The article I read on ESPN, Girardi came across as miffed because he felt they were doing beyond stealing from 2B. He felt they were stealing from other means, which he termed "illegal". That article talked about them having to change up signs even when no one was on base, and how they felt it was disrupting his pitchers.
Here's an abbreviated version of the one I read, not sure what happened to the original (maybe it had a little too much writer's creativity) :-)
posted by bdaddy at 04:49 PM on July 18, 2011
What Girardi is saying sounds right to me. I thought it was well established that if a team had a runner on 2nd base they would try to steal signs.