NEW YORK — A 2017 document detailing a Major League Baseball investigation into allegations of cheating by the New York Yankees will be unsealed, an appeals court ruled Monday.
The decision by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals represents a legal defeat for the Bronx Bombers, who fought to keep the report under wraps.
The document reportedly addresses accusations that the Yankees used YES Network cameras to steal signs.
The three-judge panel concluded that MLB’s acknowledgment of the investigation in a 2017 press release undermined the Yankees’ arguments the report should stay secret.
“MLB voluntarily disclosed major portions of the content and pertinent conclusions of the internal investigation,” the court wrote.
In a press release, Commissioner Rob Manfred said in 2017 that “we found insufficient evidence to support the allegation that the Yankees had made inappropriate use of the YES Network to gain a competitive advantage.”
The report itself emerged through a lawsuit brought by DraftKings bettors who claim they were duped by the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal. The fantasy baseball bettors claim the League minimized the problem for years — and pointed to the secrecy surrounding the Yankee probe as proof.
“It was part of a confidential investigation where baseball polices itself,” Yankees President Randy Levine told the court in 2020. “Our employees were told the information would be confidential.”
A lower court judge dismissed the bettors’ lawsuit, but ordered the Yankees report be unsealed because it factored in his decision.
It was not immediately clear when the document itself would be publicly released.
In the cheating scandal, Houston was found to have illegally used video in their replay room to steal catchers’ signs. They then used a bat to bang on a trash can to relay what pitch was coming in real-time to hitters at the plate. They were fined $5 million for it, among other punishments.
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