PHOENIX — A quarter-century after the Arizona Diamondbacks denied the Yankees a fourth consecutive World Series championship, one of the pivotal advantages behind their comeback is again stirring questions.
Arizona knew Andy Pettitte was tipping his pitches before Game 6 of the 2001 World Series. What remains unsettled is who discovered it — and whether the information came from inside the Diamondbacks’ clubhouse or from an unidentified person with another major league organization.
The mystery resurfaced in an MLB.com report by Steve Gilbert ahead of a three-game Yankees-Diamondbacks series in Arizona that coincides with the franchise’s celebration of the 25th anniversary of its 2001 championship. A full reunion of the title team is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 19.
That timing gives an old Yankees wound a fresh and potentially uncomfortable wrinkle.
There is no evidence in MLB’s report that Arizona broke a rule. Reading a pitcher’s physical tells has long existed within baseball’s competitive cat-and-mouse game, and MLB’s explicit restrictions surrounding electronic sign stealing were tightened many years after the 2001 World Series.
But the conflicting recollections from key members of those Diamondbacks leave one provocative question hanging over one of the most crushing losses in Yankees history:
Who gave Arizona the information that helped it decode Pettitte at exactly the right time?
Diamondbacks tell conflicting stories about Pettitte breakthrough
Former Arizona outfielder Steve Finley told MLB.com that someone contacted him before Game 6 and alerted him to a flaw in Pettitte’s delivery. Finley then went to the video room and confirmed that the Yankees left-hander was revealing what he planned to throw.
The intriguing part is that Finley could not remember who supplied the information.
His recollection suggests the initial intelligence may have arrived from outside the Diamondbacks organization. MLB.com reported that Finley remembered receiving the information from someone associated with another team.
That is significantly different from Mark Grace’s version.
Grace recalled teammate Greg Swindell taking him into the video room after noticing something about Pettitte. They reviewed footage, and Grace quickly realized how obvious the Yankees pitcher’s movements appeared.
“It was blatant,” Grace recalled.
Luis Gonzalez, whose bloop single off Mariano Rivera ultimately won Game 7, supplied yet another recollection.
“Somebody tipped us off,” Gonzalez told MLB.com.
Gonzalez thought scouts may have been involved but could not remember for certain.
Then-manager Bob Brenly remembered multiple people playing a role and credited video assistant Jim Currigan with helping research Pettitte’s movements.
Twenty-five years later, those accounts do not neatly fit together.
They agree on the central fact: Arizona figured out that Pettitte was revealing his pitches.
They disagree on a much more intriguing detail — how the Diamondbacks learned where to look.
Pettitte’s tell becomes devastating with runners on base
The weakness Arizona uncovered centered on Pettitte’s delivery from the stretch.
According to MLB.com, the position and movement of Pettitte’s glove differed depending on what he planned to throw. A slight outward movement indicated one pitch, while a smoother motion suggested another.
Most importantly, the tell appeared when Pettitte pitched from the stretch.
That meant Arizona first needed somebody on base.
Enter Tony Womack.
Womack doubled to open Game 6. Danny Bautista followed with an RBI single on the first pitch he saw, giving Arizona an immediate lead.
The Diamondbacks scored three more runs in the second.
Then came the avalanche.
Arizona erupted for eight runs in the third inning. Pettitte lasted only four batters in the frame before the Yankees removed him, and the Diamondbacks transformed an elimination game into a stunning 15-2 rout.
Arizona finished with 22 hits.
The loss remains the most lopsided postseason defeat in Yankees history and completely reversed the momentum New York had built with three consecutive victories at Yankee Stadium.
Pettitte sensed something strange afterward.
He told the New York Daily News that he could hardly believe some of the pitches Arizona managed to hit, according to the account resurfaced by MLB.com.
He may not have known exactly why that night.
Arizona apparently did.
Mystery creates controversy without establishing cheating
That distinction is important.
Pitch tipping is not automatically comparable to the illegal electronic sign-stealing schemes that rocked baseball years later.
Players, coaches and scouts have traditionally studied pitchers for visible tendencies. MLB has also recognized forms of traditional sign decoding as part of the game while prohibiting certain electronic methods of gathering and transmitting information.
The league substantially clarified restrictions on electronic assistance in 2017 and 2018.
Nothing in MLB.com’s new account establishes that the Diamondbacks crossed a prohibited line in 2001.
The uncomfortable part for Yankees fans is different.
If Finley’s memory is correct, Arizona did not simply stumble upon Pettitte’s tell through its own preparation. Someone from another organization may have specifically alerted the Diamondbacks to the weakness immediately before the biggest game of their season.
Who?
Finley cannot remember.
Gonzalez cannot identify the source.
Grace remembers the discovery occurring differently.
Brenly remembers multiple people being involved.
The uncertainty leaves a remarkable piece of one of baseball’s most famous World Series open to interpretation.
Yankees’ 2001 heartbreak suddenly carries another question
Arizona’s Game 6 victory did not win the championship by itself.
The Diamondbacks still needed to beat the Yankees in Game 7. They did so in dramatic fashion, scoring twice in the ninth inning against Rivera and winning 3-2 on Gonzalez’s walk-off single.
Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling shared World Series MVP honors as Arizona became the fastest expansion franchise to win a championship.
But Game 6 made Game 7 possible.
New York entered that night one victory away from a fourth consecutive championship after two extraordinary comeback wins in the Bronx. Instead, Pettitte was overwhelmed, Arizona’s offense exploded, and the Yankees’ bid for another title suddenly came down to one game.
For 25 years, that 15-2 defeat largely stood as an inexplicable offensive ambush of one of the Yankees’ most trusted postseason pitchers.
Now there is considerably more context.
The Diamondbacks apparently knew what Pettitte was throwing when he worked from the stretch.
They exploited it.
What remains unresolved — and what gives this old World Series story its controversial edge — is who first gave them the key.
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