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Ex-MLB Pitcher Alleges Hall of Famer Tony La Russa Illegally Stole Signs

“Gatorade sign out in right-center had a light. There was a switch in the manager’s office and a camera zoomed in on the catcher, OK?”

Former MLB pitcher Jack McDowell on Friday accused Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa of instituting an illegal sign-stealing system for the Chicago White Sox in the 1980s.

Speaking with WFNZ-AM radio in Charlotte, McDowell said of the alleged White Sox scheme in the late ’80s: “Gatorade sign out in right-center had a light. There was a switch in the manager’s office and a camera zoomed in on the catcher, OK? I’m going to whistle-blow this. I’m getting tired of this crap. There was that. Tony La Russa was the one who put it in.”

McDowell pitched for the White Sox from 1987 until 1994, and thus never played for La Russa, who was fired by Chicago during the 1986 season and moved on to the Oakland Athletics, with whom he won the 1989 World Series. The famed skipper also won the World Series in 2006 and 2011 with the St. Louis Cardinals. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.