New York Yankees and MLB appeal order to reveal details of letter about possible sign-stealing

Both the New York Yankees and Major League Baseball have appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit about a federal judge’s order to make a 2017 letter that could link the Yankees to sign-stealing public, per information reported by The Athletic’s Evan Drellich cited here by The Score.

Last Friday, judge Jed Rakoff gave the New York Yankees until Monday noon to reveal what is in the letter sent by commissioner Rob Manfred to general manager Brian Cashman.

The Yankees, however, don’t want to do it since it would result in “significant reputational injury.”

Everything was originated by a now-dismissed lawsuit filed by fantasy sports contestants against MLB and the New York Yankees.

The league determined that the Yankees were guilty for minor infractions in the 2017, specifically in the improper use of a dugout phone.

The Yankees misused a dugout phone, but is there really more to it?

Yankees lawyer Jonathan Schiller wrote, according to The Athletic, that “there is no justification for public disclosure of the letter. The plaintiff has no case anymore, and the court held that what MLB wrote in confidence was irrelevant to the court’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s case. Under established law, this supports the Yankees’ right to confidentiality required by the Commissioner of Baseball.”

“It is the Yankees’ understanding that the press release about the investigation reflects the Commissioner’s final determinations,” Schiller said. “Those determinations were that the Yankees had committed a technical violation of MLB’s rules by misusing the dugout phone. The Yankees were not found to have violated any rule involving sign stealing. The press release is accurate and states MLB’s conclusions.”

Rakoff wrote Friday that “plaintiffs alleged that the 2017 press release falsely suggested that the investigation found that the Yankees had only engaged in a minor technical infraction, whereas, according to plaintiffs, the investigation had in fact found that the Yankees engaged in a more serious, sign-stealing scheme.”