U.S. judge throws out Major League
Baseball sign: stealing lawsuit
Send a link to a friend
[April 04, 2020]
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on
Friday threw out a lawsuit seeking to hold Major League Baseball,
the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox liable to DraftKings
fantasy baseball bettors for the sport's sign-stealing scandal.
Although both teams "shamelessly" used electronic devices to steal
signs, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan said statements
by the teams and baseball commissioner Rob Manfred about the sport's
integrity did not make them liable to DraftKings participants who
wagered on tainted games.
Rakoff also found no legal obligation for the defendants to disclose
the practice, and that supposed denials by now-fired Astros manager
A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow that the team stole signs
did not justify letting the lawsuit proceed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Apr/04/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png)
The Astros and Red Sox "broke the hearts of all true baseball fans,"
Rakoff wrote. "But did the initial efforts of those teams, and
supposedly Major League Baseball itself, to conceal these foul deeds
from the simple sports bettors who wagered on fantasy baseball
create a cognizable legal claim? On the allegations here made, the
answer is no."
Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests
for comment. Major League Baseball, the Astros and their lawyers had
no immediate comment or could not immediately be reached. A Red Sox
spokeswoman declined to comment.
In January, Major League Baseball found that the Astros improperly
used technology to decode signs between opposing pitchers and
catchers and relayed the information to batters so they would know
what pitches were coming.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/040420pics/sports73.jpg)
Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker (12) tips his hat as Boston Red
Sox center fielder Kevin Pillar (5) looks on prior to the game
during spring training at JetBlue Park. Mandatory Credit: Douglas
DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Mar/14/images/ads/current/tires250x300.gif)
Manfred fined the Red Sox in September 2017 for using an Apple Watch
to capture signs from the New York Yankees.
The lawsuit covered alleged sign-stealing from 2017, when the Astros
won the World Series, through 2019.
The Astros have also faced lawsuits by season ticket holders who
said sign-stealing enabled the team to raise ticket prices, and by
former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Mike Bolsinger, who said a bad
August 2017 outing against the team derailed his career.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Apr/04/images/ads/current/peasley%20lda%20080907.png) |