U.S. District Court judge Jed Rakoff ruled on Friday that the New York Yankees will have to unseal a letter they received from MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in 2017 about findings in a sign-stealing investigation that led to an undisclosed fine. That letter allegedly shows that the Yankees engaged in a “more serious, sign-stealing scheme” than Major League Baseball revealed publicly in 2017.
The Yankees want the letter to remain secret because it would cause “significant” damage the team’s reputation, U.S. District Court judge Jed S. Rakoff wrote in a memorandum.
“Embarrassment on the part of MLB or the Yankees about the precise contents of the letter is not particularly weighty,” Rakoff wrote.
Jonathan Schiller, a lawyer representing the Yankees, told Evan Drellich of The Athletic that the team did not agree with the decision.
“There is no justification for public disclosure of the letter,” Schiller said. “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.”
The letter was a document in a $5 million class-action lawsuit DraftKings player Kristopher Olson filed with more than 100 other plaintiffs against Major League Baseball, the Houston Astros, and the Boston Red Sox.
Rakoff said he would give the Yankees and MLB until noon Monday to submit a “minimally redacted version” of the letter to protect the “privacy interests” of the people mentioned in it.
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“The Yankees are not a party to the case,” Schiller told The Athletic. “There is no basis for the confidential Yankees letter to be disclosed or reported on in a case that was dismissed with prejudice on grounds unrelated to this letter or this press release.”
“We’re not doing this to cover up some smoking gun,” an unnamed Yankees official told The Athletic.
In his memorandum, Rakoff says Olson argues that the letter proves the Yankees did more than simply improperly using a dugout phone. Manfred at the time also said there was “insufficient evidence” to support Boston’s allegation that the Yankees used YES Network cameras to steal its signs.
The 2020 MLB season remains on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic and a financial dispute is holding up their return to play plans. The last thing the league needs is yet another cheating scandal.
