New York Mets: Jay Hook won’t call himself a sign-stealing whistleblower

New York Mets: Jay Hook won’t call himself a sign-stealing whistleblower

Dickson cited another wire story in which Cincinnati Reds pitcher-turned-scout Brooks Lawrence denied flatly that the ’61 Reds were up to any scoreboard espionage, and manager Fred Hutchinson was quoted as saying, “That’s Hook’s story. He’s stuck with it.” Hook doesn’t quite remember Hutchinson saying that. But he does remember a conversation he had with Hutchinson during spring 1962.

“The Reds had some comments about it,” he says. “I went and talked to Fred Hutchinson about it after that story. He probably said, if I remember right, I think he said something like things like this come about, and we’ll have some comments about it, and you’ll have some comments about it, but don’t worry about it.”

Around the same time, an Associated Press story by eventual J.G. Spink award winner Joe Reichler became the first known published story to suggest the 1951 New York Giants had what was eventually proven true in deep detail, a sign-stealing operation based in the Polo Grounds’ clubhouse behind center field to enable their staggering comeback from thirteen games out of first place to forcing the fabled pennant playoff with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

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Then-commissioner Ford C. Frick took none of the action today’s fans and numerous players demand of the Astros’ 2017 World Series title, refusing to vacate the ’51 Giants’ pennant. (The Giants lost the World Series to the New York Yankees in six games.)

Giants manager Leo Durocher instigated the scheme by having coach Herman Franks take reserve infielder Hank Schenz‘s hand-held Wollensak spyglass to that clubhouse behind center. Franks would get the opposing signs through it, then buzz the Giants bullpen with the stolen sign, and reserve catcher Sal Yvars most likely would send the batters who wanted the signs a flicker of light to indicate what was coming.

The entire plan was finally revealed in deep detail by Wall Street Journal writer Joshua Prager, first in his paper and then in his book, The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca, and the Shot Heard ‘Round the World. Hook says he had no idea when he became a Met, playing in the Polo Grounds, that the ’51 Giants had executed such an elaborate-for-its-era scheme.

Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg eventually admitted in his posthumously-published memoir that the pennant-winning 1940 Detroit Tigers were sign-stealing from the seats behind the outfield via pitcher Tommy Bridges‘ hunting rifle’s telescopic sight. Eddie Robinson, first baseman for the 1948 Cleveland Indians, admitted in his own memoir that those Indians committed similar espionage through the Municipal Stadium scoreboard.

The Tigers lost their World Series to the Reds; the Indians beat the Boston Braves in their Series. Neither of their memoirs, published during Bud Selig’s reign as commissioner, provoked thoughts in Selig about vacating their titles, either.

“I really wasn’t aware of the schemes that I’ve seen published,” Hook says. “As a pitcher, when a runner got on second base, we would change the signs. We were aware that people tried to steal the signs but that was part of the game if a runner was on second. You had to be careful. When [UPI] approached me, I knew what had happened [with the Reds] but I didn’t know all that other stuff.”