ST. LOUIS — Federal authorities are investigating whether the St. Louis Cardinals illegally hacked into the Houston Astros’ internal player database, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

The person spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because Major League Baseball, law enforcement officials and teams are not disclosing details of the investigation that were first reported by The New York Times. The Times said the FBI and Justice Department were investigating whether Cardinals’ front-office officials were behind the effort to steal player information from the Astros.

MLB said the Astros’ “baseball operations database” was breached, but declined further comment until the investigation is completed. The U.S. attorney in St. Louis, Richard Callahan, says he is unaware of the investigation. Messages seeking comment from FBI officials in St. Louis, Houston and Washington were not returned.

The Cardinals and Astros confirmed they are cooperating with the investigation but declined further comment.

AP Sports Writer Kristie Rieken in Houston contributed to this report.