Biggest cheaters in baseball history.
This could also be called the worst cheaters because the best cheaters are the ones we don’t know about who still haven’t been caught.
1. New York Giants (1951)
Bobby Thomson
Bobby Thomson is mobbed by his Giants’ teammates after hitting the “shot heard ‘round the world.”
Last year, the Giants admitted they had an elaborate sign-stealing system in place at the Polo Grounds in 1951. Did it help them erase the 13½-game lead the Dodgers had in August?
Did Bobby Thomson know what Ralph Branca was throwing when he hit his “Shot heard around the world?” Those questions are unanswerable, even by Thomson, who exhibited Clintonesque qualities when questioned by the Wall Street Journal. “I’d have to say more no than yes,” he said, then equivocated some more before finally saying that no, he didn’t steal the sign for that pitch.
But there’s no doubt that the Giants cheated. Coach Herman Franks would sit in the Giants clubhouse, conveniently located past center field, and use a telescope to read the catcher’s signs. He’d then set off a bell or buzzer in the Giants bullpen that would identify the next pitch, and a relay man would signal it in to the hitter.