Major League Baseball

MLB looks into Olbermann's Yankee claim

Published Apr. 2, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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The New York Yankees received a call Saturday from Major League Baseball after former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann posted a photo on Twitter of one of their employees sitting behind home plate at Thursday's opener giving hand signals to the dugout.

Olbermann posted a photo of Brett Weber, a Yankees baseball operations coaching assistant, wearing a headset and holding up four fingers during their game against the Detroit Tigers, signaling pitch speeds.

Joe Garagiola Jr., MLB's vice president of standards and on-field operations, called Yankees assistant general manager Jean Afterman on Saturday to ask about the photo. There is an MLB-issued bulletin prohibiting teams from using hand signals to relay pitch information.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Afterman explained that the scoreboard radar gun was not working and Weber was relaying velocity to hitters who wanted it. An MLB spokesman said the league office was satisfied with the Yankees' explanation.

"I think it's really silly, personally," Cashman said.

The issue caught fire Friday when Olbermann's tweet was picked up by bloggers.

"The psychotics that obsessed about it all day yesterday, I think we all did them a favor by keeping them off the street and preventing them from hurting others," Cashman said, referring to the bloggers.
 

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